The Dodgers offense fired on all cylinders over their two-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds in the Wild Card series, but since then, they haven’t provided much to desire.
The Dodgers were outscored by the
Philadelphia Phillies 15-12 in the NLDS despite winning the series in four, and although they swept the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS, they managed to average just 3.75 runs per game. Two runs of support for Blake Snell was nowhere near enough in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays, as a nine-run sixth inning blew the Dodgers chances of taking an early series lead out of the water.
Against ace Kevin Gausman, who entered Game 2 with a 2.00 ERA across 18 innings in the postseason, and with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound, early run support was crucial for the Dodgers to have any chance in knotting the series at a game apiece.
The first inning looked to be a repeat of Game 1 for the Dodgers offensively, as Gausman recorded two quick outs of Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts. Freddie Freeman gave the Dodgers some life with two outs as he struck a double down the right field line, and in no position to waste any chances to score, Will Smith gave the Dodgers another early lead with his second RBI knock of the series.
After that Smith single, Gausman did his best to keep up with Yamamoto on the mound, as he retired 17 straight hitters after giving the Dodgers the lead. He was off the hook for the loss momentarily, as Alejandro Kirk plated George Springer with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one in the bottom of the third inning.
Gausman continued to excel heading into the middle innings, with his pitch count at a mere 65 through six innings, giving him his first quality start of the postseason. The challenge ahead was if Gausman could continue to pitch effectively into the later innings, and he started off well by getting Freeman to fly out on the first pitch of the inning. Then he faced Smith again, and on a full count pitch, an inside fastball hugged too much of the zone, and Smith made Gausman pay the price for his mistake by launching his first home run of the postseason.
Gausman collected himself with a strikeout of former teammate Teoscar Hernández, but Max Muncy kept the pressure mounting on Toronto with an opposite field home run, knocking the Blue Jays ace out of the game with his team down by a pair of runs.
The Dodgers would grab some insurance on a wild pitch from Jeff Hoffman before Andrés Giménez thought it’d be best to try to turn a double play instead of firing home with the bases loaded, allowing the fifth and final run of the game to score. All this was more than enough for Yamamoto, as he became the first Dodgers pitcher since Orel Hersheiser in 1988 to throw two consecutive complete games in the postseason.
Now with the series headed back home to Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers are scheduled to face against old friend Max Scherzer and another former AL Cy Young winner in Shane Bieber. Scherzer has performed well against the Dodgers since departing in free agency for the New York Mets, as he has a combined 1.13 with 14 strikeouts over his last three starts against the Dodgers. For Bieber, it will be just his second ever start against the Dodgers, with his only one coming back in 2022 when he was still with the Cleveland Guardians.
The Dodgers now have the responsibility of attacking early to give their starters some breathing room to work with. For as dominant as Yamamoto was on Saturday, it’s never a guarantee to have the rotation be as pristine as they were the round prior. The Dodgers will play within a different atmosphere— a familiar one at that— over the next three games, and it will be up to the offense to provide as much run support as possible and to keep the momentum going from this series tying win.
