The Los Angeles Dodgers evened up their series with the Cleveland Guardians thanks to a 7-2 victory, setting up a rubber match between the clubs on Sunday.
While the Dodgers were the club that entered the day with a bullpen game, their first pitcher, Ryan Brasier, actually outlasted the Guardians’ starter, Gavin Williams.
The Dodgers batted around in the first inning and chased Williams after he faced just seven hitters, five of whom reached base or had a productive at-bat.
Mookie Betts started them with a walk, and that was followed by walks to Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy as well, which loaded the bases on three consecutive free passes.
Tommy Edman started the scoring with a ground-rule double to make it a 2-0 Dodgers lead and Gavin Lux added on with a sacrifice fly that made it 3-0.
Rojas then singled home another run, which ended Williams’ night, exiting with a runner still on first.
Pedro Avila replaced Williams, and he promptly allowed a two-run homer to Andy Pages, giving the Dodgers a 6-0 lead. Austin Barnes also singled for the final hit of the inning.
Of the Dodgers’ three outs in the first inning, Shohei Ohtani was responsible for two of them.
The Dodgers added their seventh run in the fourth inning when Mookie Betts blasted a solo home run to make it a 7-2 game.
Dodgers pitching staff turns in quality combined outing
With Gavin Stone on the 15-day injured list for his scheduled day, the Dodgers opted to go with the Johnny Wholestaff strategy to get through the game, rather than starting Justin Wrobleski, who still figured into their plans anyways.
“He’s in the pen, and he’ll pitch when the phone rings for his name to be called,” Roberts said of Wrobleski before the game. “But I don’t know when that is or how long that’s going to be. For me, I’m just looking at who’s available tonight.
“It doesn’t need to be Justin taking on the bulk. It could be, but we’re going to do whatever we can to win this game.”
Braiser started and pitched a scoreless first inning. He was replaced by Grove in the second, who allowed a home run that allowed two runs to score following an error from Austin Barnes.
Wrobleski ended up working two innings, walking three batters and allowing a hit but keeping the Guardians off the board.
Blake Treinen pitched the fifth, Alex Vesia worked the sixth and Michael Kopech entered in the seventh. All of them tossed a scoreless inning.
Brent Honeywell took down the final two frames, working a scoreless eighth and ninth to secure the win.
The Dodgers bullpen combined to hold the Guardians to 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position, including 10 left on base and eight of which were in scoring position.
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