You can’t afford to let a rookie pitcher win. The Los Angeles Dodgers took home a win as they prepare for the postseason in earnest.
The Dodgers defeated the San Francisco Giants, 7-2, on Sunday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif. After clinching the National League West title and advancing to the postseason for the 11th consecutive year, the Dodgers began preparing for the postseason.
Rookie starter Emmitt Sheehan started the game for the Dodgers. Sheehan kept the San Francisco offense in check until the fourth inning, allowing just one hit. The Dodgers put runners on first and third with a leadoff double by Chris Taylor and a single to left field by James Outman in the third, scored the first run on a sacrifice fly to left field by Kike Hernandez, and took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a solo shot to right field by J.D. Martinez.
With a 2-0 lead, Sheehan needed just five innings to reach the four-win requirement, but he faltered with two outs in the fifth. He got Michael Conforto to fly out to shortstop and Tairo Estrada to ground out. Two batters later, he gave up back-to-back singles to Mike Yastrzemski, Marco Luciano, and Blake Sable to put runners on second and third, but then gave up a fly ball to Tyler Fitzgerald.
The Dodgers bench was mobilized. With the district title already clinched, they could have waited out the rookie’s win requirement, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts waited no longer. He pulled Sheehan. He brought in Alex Vecchia, who got out of the jam by striking out J.D. Davis with the bases loaded.토토사이트
The Dodgers gave up a tying solo homer to Jacoby Pederson in the top of the sixth, but the Dodgers bounced back in the bottom of the inning. With one out in the sixth, Will Smith tripled to right-center and J.D. Martinez followed with a sacrifice fly to right field to regain the lead at 3-2. In the seventh, Chris Taylor reached on an error and James Outman doubled to put runners on second and third with one out, capitalizing on two wild pitches to extend the lead to 5-2. RBI singles by J.D. Martinez and Chris Taylor in the eighth made it 7-2.
Sheehan, who improved to 3-1 on the season, was unable to pick up the win despite throwing 4⅔ innings of one-run, four-hit ball with nine strikeouts and no walks. The Dodgers used Alex Vazquez, Shelby Miller, Ryan Braazer, Joe Kelly, and Evan Phillips to preserve the win. They played like they were in the postseason and shut out San Francisco.