Propelled by a solid collective effort from their pitching staff, the Los Angeles Dodgers earned a fifth consecutive victory on Wednesday, defeating the Texas Rangers, 3-1, in the finale of a two-game set at Globe Life Park.
Alex Wood was brilliant in his 25th start of the season, allowing only four hits and two walks across seven shutout innings. He was followed by Scott Alexander, who promptly tossed a scoreless frame of his own, setting the stage for Kenta Maeda’s first save opportunity in 2018.
Maeda got the call after Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen was deemed unavailable in the contest. He made quick work of Elvis Andrus, striking out the longtime Rangers shortstop to begin things in the ninth.
Maeda followed up by issuing a one-out walk to Nomar Mazara, who was later driven in by Adrian Beltre via his 15th double of the season. The right-hander would calm down from there, however, retiring Jurickson Profar and Ronald Guzman en route to his first save of the season.
After the game, Maeda touched on the differences between starting and closing, and opined that pitching in the ninth inning comes with an added sense of pressure, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“Today, I definitely felt the ninth inning was a special inning and something different,” Maeda said through his interpreter. “There’s a sense of anxiety and a little bit of pressure to battle that is a little different.”
Having started in 77 of his 87 career Major League appearances, it’s hardly surprising that Maeda felt some jitters when summoned for the ninth inning.
He nevertheless succeeded, helping the Dodgers remain a mere one game behind the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West ahead of their four-game weekend series at Dodger Stadium.
Since transitioning to the bullpen on a regular basis, Maeda has posted a 3.60 ERA and 1.40 WHIP in five innings of work (four appearances). He hasn’t yielded a home run in that span, accumulating seven strikeouts against two walks.
