The Los Angeles Dodgers needed 11 innings to get runs on the board and secure a series-opening victory over the New York Yankees.
The 2-1 win saw both teams go scoreless for the first 10 frames, with stellar pitching from Yoshinobu Yamamoto and L.A.’s bullpen. The Dodgers used five relievers in the win, including Blake Treinen, who recorded one out and has now recorded 11 scoreless innings this season.
Treinen faced two batters in the eighth inning on Friday night, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, in the heart of the Yankees order. He entered the game with runners on first and second base in a scoreless affair after Anthony Banda gave up back-to-back singles.
The 35-year-old walked Judge in a thrilling 10-pitch at-bat, loading the bases for Stanton. Treinen then forced a fly out to left field to end the inning and keep the game knotted at zero.
He spoke about the big moment and his reaction to how he performed, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“That’s fun,” Treinen said of the matchups with Judge and Stanton.
“Obviously you want to be great at what you do and to do that you’ve got to compete against them. He got me. But I’m not even upset I walked him. Sometimes you can challenge guys, try to get them to come out of their comfort zone. I made some pitches trying to get him on the ground or swing and miss.”
While Treinen certainly enjoyed the challenge of facing two incredible hitters in a high-leverage situation, he wanted to reiterate a common sentiment that the Dodgers don’t view the series against the Yankees as any more important than other matchups:
“No offense, everybody’s been building it up. To me and honestly most of these guys, it’s still another team,” Treinen said. “You see what they’ve done this year and it’s awesome.
“Obviously you know all those things but when it comes to making it bigger than it is, I don’t think so. We just know that on any given night there’s big-league talent on the field. There’s some superstars over there obviously. It’s just nice to put a good game together.”
While the Dodgers and Yankees are two of the best teams in baseball — the second and fifth-best records respectively — it’s hard to put that much stock into a June series when there is still so much season left to be played.
Treinen is right to downplay the importance of the series, even after a victory, as it’s best to treat this series the same as any other, even if there are superstars on the other side.
Yankees did everything possible trying to sign Yamamoto
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman revealed recently that they felt very good about their chances to land Yamamoto in free agency over the winter. He felt they did everything they possibly could and that it came down to a difficult decision between the Yankees and the Dodgers.
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