The Los Angeles Dodgers welcomed the Tampa Bay Rays to town for a two-game Interleague series and despite the offense starting out slow, they eventually went on to earn a 7-5 victory that increased their lead over the Atlanta Braves in the National League standings.
In what was a bullpen game for both teams, the Dodgers found themselves trailing 1-0 and without a hit going into the bottom of the fifth inning.
While Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy couldn’t get the first hit, they both reached on a walk and hit by pitch, respectively, to begin the inning.
Corey Seager was the one that eventually broke through as he went the other way for a ground-rule double to drive in both runners to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. After the Rays tied the game in the sixth, Seager again gave his team the lead with another two-run double in the seventh, also going to the opposite field.
The two doubles were Seager’s 40th and 41st of the season, which marks his new career high. His four RBI on the night also brought his season total to 79, which broke his previous career high of 77.
That seventh inning was a productive one for Dodgers as they wound up batting around and plating five runs to seemingly put the game out of reach. A.J. Pollock and Gavin Lux both contributed with RBI singles and Bellinger capped off the rally with a run-scoring double to give him 109 RBI on the season.
After Kenta Maeda gave up three runs in the eighth, Kenley Jansen was tasked with getting the final four outs to complete the save. He was able to do exactly that, striking out two to earn his 30th save of the year.
This marks the sixth consecutive season that Jansen has reached that milestone.
