After suffering a one-run and blowout loss through the first two games of the series, the Los Angeles Dodgers managed to avoid being swept by the Houston Astros with a 3-2 victory Sunday afternoon.
Walker Buehler matched a career high with eight strikeouts but it wasn’t necessarily a sign of dominance. George Spring deposited Buehler’s first pitch of the game well beyond the center field fence to give the Astros an early lead.
But from that point forward Buehler retired eight batters in a row before walking Springer with two outs in the third. The inning came to an end when Springer was caught stealing, with the play proving even more costly as he was removed with an apparent thumb injury.
A hit by pitch and walk put two on with one out in the fourth, though Buehler navigated his way out of the jam by striking out Tyler White and J.D. Davis. Tony Kemp’s solo home run in the fifth inning but the Dodgers’ lead in half and was the final run the Astros managed off Buehler.
The rookie right-hander allowed two runs and exited with two on and one out in the sixth. Dylan Floro stranded both, then worked a scoreless seventh inning after the leadoff man reached. Scott Alexander and Kenley Jansen combined for two shutout innings to wrap up the win.
The Dodgers received just enough offense from Brian Dozier’s two-run double in the first inning that Springer nearly made a terrific diving catch on. Cody Bellinger then cashed in Manny Machado’s leadoff double by flipping an RBI double into left-center field in the third inning.
Gerrit Cole matched Buehler’s eight strikeouts and two walks but only went five innings and allowed three runs.
In somewhat of an oddity, Dodgers pitches combined to hit seven Astros, while none of their batters were plunked. Buehler added two to the count, while Floro hit one.
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