Dodgers 10 Brewers 6: Offense is in Sync

The Dodgers get the win in an offense filled game despite a poor performance from Mike Bolsinger on the mound.

Alright, let’s be real, Mike Bolsinger was just flat out bad tonight. He only went 2.2 innings and allowed nine hits and five runs. Bolsinger struggled with his pitch count right off the bat. He went deep in almost every hitters count. He finished with exactly 73 pitches and threw 44 strikes. In the second inning Bolsinger put his left wrist under his right arm and that triggered Dave Roberts and the Dodgers trainer to head out to the mound to check on him. According to Bolsinger everything was fine so he stayed out on the mound, but following that check up, he allowed two more runs. It is not that the Dodgers expected much from Bolsinger, I mean he has not gone deeper than six innings in any of his five previous starts, but I’m pretty sure he was expected to make it out of the third inning at least. In my opinion, Bolsinger will not be making his next start. He is likely to be sent back to AAA or depending on what the whole wrist/mound visit entailed possibly the DL.

In his preview this afternoon, Alex brought up a great point about Bolsinger so far this season:

Basically, Bolsinger is good for five innings and three runs. The Dodgers have surprisingly had a bullpen that can make that work, but scoring more than three runs seems like a lot to ask these days.

Tonight Bolsinger got that stat confused as he did not make it out of the third inning and gave up five runs. Chris Anderson who started for the Brewers did almost the exact same as Bolsinger this evening. he too only threw 71 pitches, 44 for strikes and did not make it out of the third inning. Bolsinger and Anderson are both close friends and were each groomsmen in each other’s weddings. Tonight they both had almost identical stats from the mound. Both pitchers also came from the Diamondbacks farm system and were teammates at AA and AAA. It seems like neither guy wanted to out perform the other.

The Brewers would score one in the first after a walk and double to get them the early lead. In the bottom of the first inning, the Dodgers would tie it at one when Justin Turner scored on a Trayce Thompson single. Turner got on base thanks to a walk and advanced to third on a ground rule double by Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzo tried to score on the single too, but was called out at home and the inning ended.

In the top of the second inning the Brewers tacked on two more thanks to four consecutive singles. Howie Kendrick would get the Dodgers within one and the score to 3-2 in the bottom of the second when he went yard with a solo home run. Bolsinger would allow the Brewers to score two more in the third inning to make the score 5-2, Brewers.

The Dodgers again proved to be resilient when they struck back by scoring six runs in the bottom of the third inning. Joc Pederson led off the inning and reached first on an infield single. Corey Seager followed him up with a walk and Justin Turner came to the plate. Turner was the hero last night with two home runs and the game winning single. Tonight he stepped up to the plate again and blasted a three run shot into center.

Shout out to Matthew Mesa who runs the Dodgers social media for posting Turner’s HR along with Justin Timberlake lyrics. You have successfully combined my two favorite JT’s and I greatly appreciate it. It also inspired the title for tonight’s recap. Gotta love those JT NSYNC days, anyways… back to baseball.

With one swing of the bat the game was now tied again. Jhan Marinez took over for Anderson in the third inning, but he allowed a two run double to Yasmani Grandal and then Chris Hatcher joined in on the fun when got an RBI single to make the score 8-5, Dodgers. Hatcher’s single was the first hit and RBI of his career in 12 plate appearances. He has a pretty good swing too!

The whole pace of play thing was not going too well in the first three innings. It took the Brewers and Dodgers 99 minutes to get through just three innings. Both teams combined for 13 runs on 18 hits and scored in every half inning.

Things settled down after the bottom of the third inning. Hatcher pitched two great innings and Casey Fien took over for the boys in blue to pitch the top of the sixth inning. The Dodgers offense got going again in the bottom of the sixth inning. Pederson hit a solo shot to deep right center. Seager went the other way to double into right. Turner came up and singled then Gonzo followed him up with another single. Two runs scored to make the score 10-5, Dodgers all with no outs.After Pederson’s home run, the roomies (Pederson, Seager and Thompson) combined have hit 38 home runs and the rest of the Dodgers club combined have only hit 40.

Fien allowed a solo home run to Ryan Braun to lead off the top of the seventh inning, but then quickly got three outs to get out of it all. Score was now 10 to 6, Dodgers. Adam Liberatore pitched a great eighth and ninth inning to help lead the Dodgers to a win. The bullpen as a whole did fantastic again tonight as they only allowed two hits after the third inning and 1 run in 6.1 innings pitched.

The Giants won again today, so the Dodgers remain 6.5 back in the division. The Dodgers will be looking for the sweep tomorrow afternoon against the Brewers. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM.