Dodgers 7 Orioles 5: Windependence Day

The Dodgers came from behind and took game one against Baltimore.

The Dodgers got some good news before the game, as Hyun-jin Ryu will start a major league baseball game for the first time since October 6, 2014. He’s scheduled to throw Thursday at Dodger Stadium against the Padres.

The Dodgers may keep a six-man rotation for the time being, but Julio Urias‘ time with the major league team is probably running out. He entered today’s game with 74 innings in that left arm (minors and majors combined), and his career-high is 87.2 innings in a season, so he’ll have to be slowed down.

Urias helped himself keep his innings down by pitching horribly today. He got squeezed a bit, but he wasn’t fooling a single Oriole in this game. He had a rather easy 10-pitch first inning, but ran into a mountain of trouble in the second. He threw 41 pitches in just the second inning, which started with Mark Trumbo singling and Chris Davis drawing a walk. He got a lineout, but Yasiel Puig tried to show off his gun at third, and it resulted in both runners tagging up (they probably would have scored anyways, but first and third one out is better than second and third one out). J.J. Hardy worked a 10-pitch at bat and boomed a double to the gap to cash in both runs. Urias then walked the opposing pitcher, and Adam Jones dropped a single to center to score a third run.

The Dodgers offense got going in the bottom of the second off Yovani Gallardo. Yasiel Puig led off the inning with a no-doubt homer, and Yasmani Grandal followed that up with his ninth homer of the season. Unfortunately, both were solo shots, but if those two can get going this offense is that much more dangerous.

Urias tossed a clean third inning, but struggled again in the fourth. Matt Wieters led off with a single and Hardy hit another loud double to put two in scoring position with no outs. Joey Rickard singled them both in, and after a sac bunt Urias was pulled for Louis Coleman. Coleman got out of the inning without any more damage, but the Dodgers were down 5-2.

They responded again in the bottom of the inning, which started with a sharp single by Puig. After Grandal and Will Venable struck out, Scott Van Slyke pinch hit for Coleman and walked and Chase Utley singled in Puig. Corey Seager followed that up with an RBI single to extend his hitting streak to 17 games, but Justin Turner popped out to end the inning.

The Dodgers got a gift in the sixth. After Grandal led off with a walk, Venable hit a routine double play but second baseman Jonathan Schoop took too long to flip it, making it a fielders’ choice. Venable was then balked to second (very questionable call), and was cashed in on an RBI single by Utley.

The Dodgers took the lead in the bottom of the seventh, which started with a Seager triple. Turner hit the next pitch deep enough to score Seager for their first lead of the game. They added a seventh run in the eighth after a Chris Taylor walk and Howie Kendrick RBI double

The story, again, was the Dodgers’ bullpen. They were asked to throw a high number of innings with a short effort from the starter, but they kept the Dodgers in the game long enough for the offense to roll. Coleman got two outs in six pitches. Pedro Baez got six outs in 19 pitches. Joe Blanton gave up a couple singles, but got through his inning in 10 pitches. Adam Liberatore completed the eighth in 13 pitches, and Kenley Jansen shut the door in the ninth with 17 pitches. For all the flak the bullpen got early on, they’ve been incredible of late, and they’re the reason the Dodgers are where they are.

Next: Dave Roberts Midseason Report

The Dodgers improve to 48-37, but the Giants won so they remain five games back. They look for a sixth straight win tomorrow at 7:10.