Dodgers 5 Cardinals 3: Great Scott!

The Dodgers got their first three-game winning streak in a month and guaranteed a series win against the Cardinals.

Scott Kazmir has drawn the ire of Dodger fans all season, as five of his first seven starts were extremely poor. However, tonight Kazmir looked very much like the number two starter he was signed to be, as he came an out away from a complete game. He allowed one unearned run through eight and got the first two outs of the ninth pretty easily, but gave up a two-out single and a long home run, which forced Kenley Jansen into the game. His final line wasn’t as sexy as it could have been, as he finished allowing five hits and three runs in 8 2/3 innings. I’m willing to throw out that last out, as if it was a closer game he probably would have been pulled much earlier. Don’t use this outing as Kazmir hate please. He was phenomenal. He deserved a CGSO. Baseball is dumb.

Kazmir hit 95 in the eighth inning on his 100th pitch, so he was obviously feeling it. He was still bunting in his three plate appearances, so his hurt wrist is likely still having some impact. No one really cares if Kazmir’s wrist hurts his hitting if he’s pitching the way he did today.

Obviously it’s only one start, but this was the EXACT type of start Kazmir needed. His spot in the rotation was never really in jeopardy (despite the wishes of some fans), but starts like this can go a long way in getting a pitcher back on track. His next scheduled outing is in Anaheim where his career fell off a number of years ago, but if he could string together a few starts closer to this, the Dodgers rotation will be that much better. Pair that with the fact that Mike Bolsinger is already on his rehab assignment and Hyun-jin Ryu is scheduled to start for Rancho tomorrow, and maybe the season isn’t over in May.

The Dodgers got baserunners on in the first and second innings, but double plays erased that. Adrian Gonzalez got the Dodgers on the board in the fourth with an opposite field home run, which was just as welcome a sight as Kazmir’s outing. I don’t really look at numbers when looking at how a player is struggling, because you can be ripping the cover off the ball and hitting it right at people (basically Puig for the last week). Gonzo had looked pretty terrible at the plate and wasn’t getting results, so for him to go the other way and hit one out was nice. He followed that up with a 12-pitch plate appearance in the fifth that led to another run.

The Dodgers put up three in the fifth, which started with a Carl Crawford walk and a Kazmir bunt single. I don’t know which of those two outcomes are more shocking. Chase Utley walked to load the bases and Corey Seager singled to drive in a run. Justin Turner followed that up with a deep sac fly for a second run, and Gonzalez saw 12 Carlos Martinez pitches before hitting a run-scoring chopper to first. Seager made two errors in the game, but had three hits, including a seventh-inning homer off a lefty, so he’s forgiven.

The Dodgers look for the sweep tomorrow with Alex Wood on the hill (at home, so that’s probably a good thing). The game will be on ESPN without blackouts, so prepare for a lot of shadow talk.