This Week in Dodgers Baseball (9-13)

The Dodgers went 5-2 on the week and just need to play .500 ball the rest of the way to reach the 100 win mark.  Of course, although 100 wins would be a great accomplishment, winning the Division is the goal and the Dodgers actually lost a couple games to the Giants during this last week.  The Giants have won 7 games in a row, including the last game of the LA series.

Monday

On Monday the Dodgers beat the Cardinals 5-1 as Max Scherzer went 8 innings giving up no earned runs. Chris Taylor hit his 20th homerun and the Dodgers went 3 for 4 with Runners in scoring position.

The Dodgers selected the contract of Neftali Feliz in preparation of adding him to the 40 man roster. Feliz threw 1 inning the next night giving up 1 hit and no runs but then was outrighted back to OKC on Saturday.   Andrew Vasquez was optioned to OKC to make room for Feliz

Tuesday

On Tuesday the Dodgers defeated the Cardinals again, but this time 7-2.  The Dodgers used 8 combined pitchers, and not one of them has been with the Dodgers all year.  All of them were either picked up on waivers, free agency, or spent a good amount of time in AAA OKC this year.

The Turners had 2 hits a piece, but the star of the show was Will Smith.  Smith went 4 for 4 on the night including a homerun.

Tuesday was a busy day on the transaction front.  The Dodgers claimed Jake Jewell off of waivers, and signed outfielder Edwin Sanchez to a Minor League contract after acquiring him through Free Agency.  Clayton Kershaw was the headliner though as he started for AAA OKC and went 4 innings and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits.  But, as with all rehab starts, the biggest takeaway from it was that Kershaw came away healthy, and, as a result, is back with LA and will start tomorrow night.  Tuesday also saw LHP Garrett Cleavinger get placed on the 60 day IL.

Wednesday

The Dodgers dropped yet another 1 run game on Wednesday as Mitch White got the start and went 5 innings giving up 4 earned runs.  The Dodgers used 4 more pitchers in this game and, again, all with guys that have either spent a great deal of time in AAA OKC, or were picked up via waivers and/or free agency off of a DFA.

Thursday

On Thursday the Dodgers lost their 2nd game in a row to the Cardinals as Tony Gonsolin got he start.  Tony is yet another guy that has been in the Minors rehabbing lately but he pitched well giving up just 1 run in his 3 innings of work.  The Dodgers went on to use 6 pitchers in the game and Justin Turner racked up 2 more hits while Trea Turner had a big 2 out RBI.  The Dodgers were 1 for 3 with runners in scoring position. 

On Thursday Andre Jackson, Gavin Lux and Matt Beaty all got recalled to LA while Billy McKinney was placed on the 10 Day IL.  Lux has multi hit games in each of the last 2 Dodgers games but Jackson has yet to see any action since being recalled.

Friday

Friday saw the beginning of a 3 game series with the free falling Padres and was the first victory in a 3 game sweep.  The Dodgers needed just 4 hits and 3 runs behind Julio Urias who gave up 0 runs in his 7 innings.  Urias leads the league in wins and is 17-3.  With all of the injuries and instability in the pitching staff, Urias has been one of the rocks that have allowed to Dodgers to be in position to win 100 games. The irony to that is that Urias’s career seemed like it was never going to get going as he had to overcome injury after injury on his path to LA.

Saturday

On Saturday the Dodgers won a 1 run game and did it in somewhat dramatic fashion. After scoring 2 runs in the top of the 8th to pull within 1 run, the Padres went down in order in the 9th as Kenley Jansen recorded his 32nd save on the year. Mookie Betts hit his 20th homerun, had 4 RBI’s and a sacrifice fly.  Saturday was a breakout game for Gavin Lux as he went 2 for 2 with a double and an RBI. Walker Buehler rebounded from his worst start of the year by going 7 innings, giving up 6 hits and 2 runs.  

Sunday 

On Sunday the Dodgers completed their 3 game sweep of the Padres and it was almost a perfect day.  Max Scherzer took a perfect game into the 8th inning when Eric Hosmer broke it up with a double to right field.  Scherzer, in my opinion, should have been given the right to finish the game as a complete game shutout as his pitch count was at just 92 when he was pulled..

On Sunday Kenley Jansen was placed on Paternity leave and Mitch White was recalled from OKC.

On the Farm

The 2 main headlines between Tulsa and OKC this week were the hot streaks of Devin Mann and  Michaeal Busch.  Mann had multi homerun games in 3 consecutive games, and between Thursday, Friday and Saturday, had hit 6 homeruns in his last 10 at bats.  

Michael Busch has been hot for over a month now and is hitting .491 in September with an OPS of 1.258.

Ryan Noda hit multiple homeruns this week to add to his league leading  28 homeruns, and is also 2nd in the league in walks and 5th in RBI’s.  

Justin Yurchak continues to be a great hitter for Tulsa and is hitting .359 so far in September. Yurchak hit .411 in August, .369 in July, and .475 in June.  The dude can hit and is hitting .366 on the season.

Louisville product, Bobby Miller made his AA debut and hit 99 on his 2nd pitch of the game and reliever Nick Robertson went 2 ⅔ innings to show his versatility as a pitcher in the organization.

In OKC Matt Davidson and Christian Santana continue to wear the ball out.  Davidson is hitting .314 in September after hitting .314 in August.  His OPS is 1.047 during that time.

Christian Santana is a hitter that uses the middle of the field as well as any hitter in the organization at any level.  Santana has been a very consistent hitter as well as he has hit above .300 in every month this year except June.  All and all he is hitting .314 on the year for AAA OKC.  

Sheldon Neuse made his return off of the IL and made an impact.  Neuse went 5 for 9 in his first 2 games back and is hitting .287 with 13 homeruns on the year.

Up Next

Today the Dodgers start a 3 game series with the last place Arizona Diamondbacks.  Clayton Kershaw is making his much anticipated return to LA and will be on a limited pitch count in his first start off of rehab.  

After the 3 game series with Arizona, the Dodgers will get their first off day in 13 days before traveling to Cincinnati for a 3 game weekend series against the Reds.  The series with the Reds will be packed with importance as both teams, both the Dodgers and the Reds, are currently in 2nd place in their Divisions.  The Reds are tied with San Diego for the final Wild Card spot and the Dodgers are still chasing San Francisco.