Dodgers do just enough to earn victory
A tad wild early, Ryu still dominates the lowly Marlins over seven innings to win.
DODGERS 2, MIAMI 1
There was no earthquake like the 7.1-magnitude temblor that rattled Dodger Stadium on July 5, no strange atmospheric conditions or precipitation that would affect pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu’s grip or footing on the mound.
Still, something about the Dodgers left-hander seemed askew Friday night. A control freak who had not walked two in an inning this season, Ryu walked two Miami batters in the second. He walked Miguel Rojas to lead off the third, matching his season-high for walks in a game.
Ryu, who walked 11 batters in 116 innings of his first 18 starts, giving him a major league-best 0.85 walks-pernine-innings rate, also hit a batter in the fourth, only the second time this season he has plunked a hitter.
Not to worry. The worst team in the National League was unable to capitalize on a rare off night for Ryu, who allowed one run and four hits in seven innings of a 2-1 victory over the Marlins before a sellout crowd of 52,471 in Dodger Stadium.
Ryu found his bearings after the fourth and retired 11 of the last batters he faced, striking out the side in the seventh, to improve to 11-2 and lower his major leagueleading ERA to 1.76.
“I don’t think he had the command of his fastball and changeup that we’re used to seeing, but when Hyun needs to get outs he does, when he needs to make a pitch, he does,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “You could see in that seventh inning. He was smelling it.
“His pace picked up. The quality of his pitches in the sixth and seventh innings actually got better. That’s
the true sign of a top-end guy, when he smells blood and wants to finish a team off. Give him credit.”
Kenta Maeda, in a preplanned relief appearance after his rain-abbreviated twoinning start in Philadelphia on Wednesday, struck out two in a one-two-three eighth inning.
Kenley Jansen rebounded from his ugly three-run blown save and loss in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, when the closer said he “shouldn’t have kept pitching” after taking a 98-mph grounder to the right ankle, to strike out the side in the ninth against the Marlins for his 24th save.
“We view Kenta as a starter and he views himself as a starter, but for him to give us one or two innings, which he’s done in the past … his one inning tonight was electric,” Roberts said. “We saw some 94-mph fastballs. His slider was sharp. And to see Kenley come back tonight and throw the ball the way he did was very encouraging.”
Jansen criticized himself after Friday night’s game for “being selfish” on Tuesday.
“That stuff in the Philly game shouldn’t happen,” Jansen said. “Enough is enough. I’m sick and tired of getting beat around, talking at the end of the game about different stuff. It’s not fun. I’m just trying to have fun again. Trying to get that attitude again. Put a stop to whoever’s trying to hurt me out there. Now is the time to go get it, to try to get what we want.”
Ryu sandwiched a pair of two-out walks around Jorge Alfaro’s single in the second and escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam by getting pitcher Zac Gallen to ground to the mound. After Rojas walked to open the third, Curtis Granderson lined into a double play.
Miami took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Harold Ramirez reached on an infield single, beating Ryu to the bag on a grounder to the right of first baseman Joc Pederson, and Alfaro roped an RBI double to the wall in left field.
Gallen, the bespectacled rookie right-hander, blanked the Dodgers on two hits through five innings, escaping a two-on, no-outs jam in the second when he retired Corey Seager, Enrique Hernandez and Russell Martin after walking Cody Bellinger and A.J. Pollock to start the inning.
But he got into trouble in the sixth when Alex Verdugo led off with a single and Justin Turner walked. Gallen struck out Bellinger with an up-andin 90-mph fastball — the same pitch he whiffed the most valuable player candidate with in the fourth — but he walked Pollock to load the bases.
Miami manager Don Mattingly summoned left-hander Jarlin Garcia to face Seager, who beat out a slow roller to second for a run-scoring fielder’s choice and a 1-1 tie. Marlins second baseman Starlin Castro then booted Hernandez’s potential inning-ending grounder for an error that allowed Turner to score for a 2-1 lead.
Ryu struck out pinch-hitter Martin Prado, Rojas and Granderson in the seventh, his pitch count reaching 102, before handing the ball to Maeda to start the eighth.
“This outing was by far the worst in terms of commanding my pitches,” Ryu said through an interpreter. “But I was able to get back on track toward the middle part of the game, being more aggressive and being sure to limit my pitch count.
“I’m really satisfied with the end result despite the process and how I was commanding my pitches. I’ll give myself some points in that regard, but overall, it was a tough game for me.”