Things seemed good early.
In the second inning, we had four hits: A Bo Bichette double. An Addison Barger single. A Ty France single. And a Daulton Varsho singled. However, it only resulted in one run, with a Myles Straw double play (not Straw’s fault, hard hit line drive that Mookie Betts made a nice diving catch on, doubling off France.
You know, we should have scored more.
We had ten hits. Eight singles. Two doubles (Bo and Vlad).
Varsho had three hits. Barger (the two lefties in the lineup did well against Clayton Kershaw) and France had two hits. Clement, Kirk, and Straw had 0 fors.
Max Scherzer had a pretty good start. Six innings, six hits, three walks and five strikeouts. A Betts home run got him the L.
Brendon Little had a tough time in the seventh. Given up a walk and a single to start the inning. Then Betts hit a grounder at Bichette, who stumbled when he threw home (and still came close to getting the runner). Freddie Freeman walked, and that was it for Little.
Louis Varland came in and walked Will Smith (Varland got robbed on a couple of pitches), driving in a run. A sac fly drove in the Dodgers’ third run of the inning. Kevin Gausman got thrown out of the game (not that he was going to get into the game) for pointing out that the umpire got a few pitches wrong.
Mason Fluhardy pitched a quick eighth.
We had some good defense. Davis Schnieder made a terrific catch at the wall in left in the first. Vlad caught a popup and doubled off Andy Pages, who, for whatever reason, went to second and then stood there while Vlad caught the ball in foul ground.
Jay of the Day: Varsho (.112 WPA).
Other Award: Little (-.162), Straw (-.170, not really his fault, much of that came on the lineout double play), and Bo (-.102, plus a couple of poor defensive plays).
Tomorrow we have a 9:00 Eastern start. Chris Bassitt (11-5, 4.12) vs. Blake Snell (1-1, 3.21)