The Dodgers entered the week down 1 game, and after a 4-2 week have lost 1 game on the Giants and are down by 2 games in the NL West with 6 left to play.
Monday
Monday was a travel day as the Dodgers had just completed a weekend series in Cincinnati and traveled to Colorado for a 3 games series in the Mile High City. In Colorado the Dodgers went 2-1 against the Rockies and kept pace with the Giants as San Francisco also went 2-1 in their series at San Diego.
Cody Bellinger got placed on the 10 day IL on Monday with a left rib fracture which made room for Luke Raley to be recalled for the 2nd time in the season. In his 2nd at bat, the Former Lake Erie college product blasted a monstrous 2 run homerun over the center field wall. Raley was spotlighted “at a glance” on Dodger Poke Report.com. Despite taking BP over the weekend, it is not known when Bellinger will be able to make it off the IL but the Dodgers are hopeful he will be back by next Sunday.
Tuesday
Trea Turner had 2 hits and the Dodgers went 3 for 6 with runners in scoring position to notch an exciting 5-4 extra inning win over the Rockies. Albert Pujols singled in Gavin Lux in the top of the 10th after Kenley Jansen had worked a scoreless bottom of the 9th. Jansen got the win as he walked 2 but gave up no runs in his 1 inning of work in the 9th inning before Brusdar Graterol and Alex Vesia combined to pitch a scoreless 10th.
AJ Pollock returned from the 10 day injured list and eventually made it back into the starting lineup on Thursday and got 2 hits, then hit his 17th home run of the year on Friday.
Wednesday
Lasting just 3.2 innings with stuff that looked flat, some people are starting to wonder if Walker Buehler is going through a “dead arm” period. In his last 3 outings Buehler has given up 10 earned runs in his last 16.2 innings of work.
After the Dodgers scored 3 runs in the top of the 4th inning The Rockies responded by jumping on Buehler for 5 earned runs in the bottom half of the frame. While giving up those 5 earned runs, Buehler was pulled with 2 outs in the inning. The Dodgers answered back with 2 runs in the top of the next frame to tie the game but a 4 spot for the Rockies in the bottom of the 7th sealed the Dodgers fate.
Thursday
On Thursday the Dodgers won another extra inning game and improved their extra inning record to 6-12. I know 6-12 isn’t good, but the Dodgers started just 1-11 in extra inning games and are 5-1 in their last 6 extra inning affairs so at least it has gotten better.
Corey Seager was the star of this game as the left handed hitting short stop had 4 hits and 2 RBI’s on the night. Trea Turner added a 3 hit performance and AJ Pollock had a multi hit game as well.
Max Scherzer was actually human in this outing giving up 5 earned runs in 5 innings of work. The Dodgers used 6 pitchers from the 6th inning on then won on Max Muncy’s 35th homerun of the year in the top of the 10th. Kenley Jansen notched his 2nd win of the week by throwing a scoreless 9th, then Blake Treinen got the save by closing the game in the 10th.
Friday
On Friday the Dodgers traveled to their 3rd city in 8 days and found their way to the desert to take on the hapless Diamondbacks. The Dodgers had dominated the Diamondbacks coming into the series having beaten Arizona in 14 of the 16 contests between the 2 clubs this year.
Justin Turner had 2 hits and Will Smith, Trea Turner, Corey Seager and AJ Pollock all had extra base hits in route to a 4-2 Dodger victory. Pollock hit his 17th home run of the season in the 2nd inning and had 2 RBI’s on the night.
Tony Gonsolin looked better in this performance as he gave up a run in the 2nd and a run in the 5th, but highlighted his night with no walks and 7 strikeouts. Kenley Jansen pitched a stress free 9th inning to record his 35th save in the 2021 campaign.
Saturday
Let’s all hope that Saturday wasn’t the final dagger in the NL West hopes for the Dodgers. In an inexplicably lifeless loss the Dodgers were able to muster just 5 hits and 2 runs and gave back a game to the Giants and now trail the Division by 2 games.
Sunday
Corey Seager and Justin Turner got the party started for the Dodgers as they hit back to back homeruns on consecutive pitches to give the Dodgers a lead they would not relinquish. Seager then hit his 2nd home run of the afternoon in the 3rd inning to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. That’s all Julio Urias would need as the league leader in wins went 5 innings giving up no runs scattering 5 hits. The Dodgers won their 100th game on Sunday.
Despite hitting a homerun in his 2nd at bat of his recall, Luke Raley was optioned back to OKC to make room for Left Handed pitcher Andrew Vasquez. Vasquez was acquired from the Twins on the last day of August and has been up with LA once before and had 2 outings with the big club. In those 2 outings Vasquez pitched 1.2 innings giving up no runs with a batting average against of just .167.
On The Farm
All of the Minor league affiliates for the Dodgers have finished their seasons except for AAA OKC.
The AA Drillers finished on a high note as infielder Miguel Vargas won the AA batting crown recording the leagues highest highest average. Infielder/outfielder slugger Ryan Noda finished his season 2nd in homeruns, 2nd in RBI’s and 2nd in walks
Michael Busch ended the 2021 season red hot as he hit .413 and had 6 multi hit games in the 13 games the Drillers played in September. If you add in the last 2 games of August, Busch had 8 multi hit games in his last 15 games played.
Devin Mann finished his season the right way hitting .323 in September and had multi home run games in 3 consecutive games from September 9-11. Mann was so hot that, at one point, he had hit 6 home runs in 10 at bats.
The Drillers had 4 of the Dodgers top 10 prospects and 6 of the organization’s top 15 and that’s even after Ryan Pepiot and Andre Jackson got moved to AAA.
AAA OKC is playing out the string and is having a good weekend in Las Vegas. Mitchell White had a good outing on Saturday night featuring a 4 pitch combination of strikes. He was then backed up by Darrien Nunez who is a very intriguing pitcher. Nunez has a batting average against of just .172, has 75 strikeouts and a WHIP of just 1.000. His fastball is sitting at 96.
Andre Jackson tied for his longest outing of the year on Monday against Round Rock going 5 innings and giving up just 2 runs.
After not pitching as well as he would have liked for a couple starts, the Dodgers #2 prospect, Ryan Pepiot, was better in his performance on Friday Night. Pepiot had a lot of arm side run and used multiple pitches to go 4 innings giving up 2 runs.
Up Next:
Tomorrow is an off day for the Dodger before they host the Padres for a 3 game series on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Tuesday:
Buehler-Dodgers TBA-Padres
Wednesday:
Scherzer-Dodgers TBA -Padres
Thursday:
Gonsolin-Dodger TBA-Padres
Next Weekend the Dodgers host Milwaukee for a 3 game series to finish out the regular season.
