Dodgers’ September Starts With a Mess
The Dodgers ended August on a pretty good note, winning two out of three against the Detroit Tigers. Then September started, and somehow everything went completely off the rails against the Cardinals.
That’s Dodgers baseball for you.
One minute I am feeling great about the pitching staff, and the next I am watching a position player pitch because the game got that ugly.
The Detroit series gave me a lot to feel good about, especially when it came to the starting pitching.
Skubal Shines Against His Former Team
Tarik Skubal started the first game on Friday in Detroit. This one felt different, since it was his first time facing his old team. I was excited to see how he would handle it. Playing against a former team has to add a little extra pressure, even if players act like it’s just another game.
Skubal handled it really well.
He pitched six innings, allowed just four hits and one run, and struck out seven. The Dodgers didn’t give him much room to work with, but they still came away with a 2-1 win.
That felt like the perfect way for Skubal to face Detroit for the first time. He didn’t need some insane 15-strikeout game to make it memorable. He just needed to go out there, pitch well, and help the Dodgers win. That’s exactly what he did.
Snell Dominates, but the Dodgers Fall Short
Game two was frustrating for a completely different reason.
Blake Snell started Saturday and looked amazing. He went five innings, gave up only three hits and one run, and had 10 strikeouts.
Ten strikeouts in five innings is crazy.
Snell’s been pitching so well lately, and I feel like he’s finally looking more and more like himself. When he’s pitching like this, he’s so fun to watch. He can completely take over a game when everything’s working. Unfortunately, the Dodgers still lost 1-2.
Those are the losses that annoy me the most, because the starting pitcher did basically everything you could ask from him. Snell gave the Dodgers a chance to win, but they couldn’t finish it. It’s hard to complain about the pitching when your starter strikes out 10 and only gives up one run.
Glasnow Finishes the Series Strong
At least Sunday made up for some of that frustration.
Tyler Glasnow started game three and was equally as dominant as Snell. He went seven innings and gave up only two hits and one run. He also struck out six.
The Dodgers won 6-1, and the game felt much more comfortable. Teoscar Hernández also hit a home run, which made it even better. Teoscar is a key and a spark plug in our lineup, and getting him on track with good at-bats will be important heading into October.
What stood out to me most about the Detroit series was how good all three starting pitchers looked. Skubal gave up one run. Snell gave up one run. Glasnow gave up one run. That’s the type of starting pitching the Dodgers need now more than ever, especially with October coming soon.
If those three keep pitching like that, I feel pretty good about the Dodgers heading into an important stretch of the season.
And Then Tuesday Happened…
Then Tuesday happened.
The Dodgers came back home to start a series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium. After watching the pitching against Detroit, I definitely was not expecting the first game against St. Louis to turn into an 8-13 loss.
Eric Lauer started, and this was just not his night.
He only lasted three innings. He allowed eight hits and seven runs while striking out two. There’s not much else to say about that performance other than it was bad. Every pitcher has games where nothing seems to work, and this was clearly one of those games for Lauer.
The Dodgers were already in a huge hole, and the game got so out of hand that Kiké Hernández ended up pitching.
At this point, Kiké pitching is basically the Dodgers’ way of telling me I can stop stressing about the score.
He threw a scoreless inning, which is honestly kind of funny considering how the rest of the game went. Kiké and Miguel Rojas are the guys who will come in to pitch when the Dodgers are winning or losing by a lot. It’s never exactly a great sign when one of them has to take the mound, but I can’t lie, I always find it entertaining.
Losing 13-8 is obviously terrible, especially at home. The Dodgers scored eight runs and still lost by five. That’s almost impressive in the worst possible way.
Some Much-Needed Help Is Back
Still, the biggest news from the day wasn’t the loss.
Will Smith, Dalton Rushing, and Justin Wrobleski are all back from the injured list.
That’s way more important to me than one horrible game against the Cardinals.
Getting Smith back is especially exciting. Having him healthy again gives the Dodgers another important piece as the season moves into September. Rushing back gives the team more depth at catcher too. Getting Wrobleski back adds another arm when this team can definitely use as many healthy arms as possible.
One Ugly Loss Isn’t the End of the World
So I am choosing not to freak out over the Cardinals’ loss completely.
Was it ugly? Absolutely. Do I ever want to watch the Dodgers give up 13 runs again? Definitely not.
But I liked what I saw from the starting pitching in Detroit. Skubal, Snell, and Glasnow all looked really good. The Dodgers won that series, and now they’re getting some important players back from the IL.
Baseball is weird like that. Three straight games can make me feel great about the pitching staff, and then one game can make me wonder what I just watched.
Hopefully the rest of the Cardinals series looks a lot more like Detroit and a lot less like whatever Tuesday night was.
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Categorized:Dodgers