The Dodgers have done it yet again.
On Sunday afternoon, a crowd of 48,522 braved the 100-degree heat to watch Los Angeles battle the San Diego Padres and ultimately take another series from them with a 9-4 win. With just twenty-nine games left in the regular season and a 92-41 record, this brings the Boys in Blue’s Magic Number down to nine.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts would use eight pitchers total during the matchup. This included left-handed pitcher Caleb Ferguson, who opened the game by retiring the side in order. Right-handed rookie pitcher Ryan Pepiot was able to burn a couple of innings for the team before Doc dipped into his bullpen to eat up the rest.
The Friars may have scored first, but Los Angeles answered back loudly in the bottom of the fourth inning with five runs of their own. They managed to hold this until the Padres scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning on a pair of doubles to make it a one-run game at 5-4. This was too close for comfort, so the team rallied and got some much-needed insurance runs.
When asked about the team’s success, right-fielder Mookie Betts shared his perspective on what seems to be working.
“Without the bottom half (of the Dodgers batting order), there’s no way we are in the spot that we’re in,” Betts stated. “You know, it takes a whole team and luckily we’ve been able to kind of put it together throughout the season and obviously sometimes it’s the top, sometimes it’s the bottom, but, you know, us as a team, we have just been huge working together.”
In the end, the game would take a little over four hours to play out. Just as the crowd was starting to lose focus after the seventh inning stretch, catcher Will Smith walked, and third baseman Max Muncy singled to get the runners in scoring position. Enter designated hitter Justin Turner, who came into the game with a 13-game hitting streak.
Make that 14.
After San Diego put up three runs in the top of the seventh inning, Turner helped to set the table for what would happened in the bottom of the inning by doubling in a run for his 70th RBI of the season. At this point, Doc decided to bring Dodgers utility outfielder Trayce Thompson in to pinch hit for struggling left fielderJoey Gallo (.193), and boy, did he deliver. Thompson crushed a 424-foot three-run home run to left-center field off of Padres left-hander Adrian Morejon to make it 9-4 Dodgers, the eventual final score.
Following the game, Thompson’s teammates acknowledged how much he has contributed to the team in his limited playing time.
“I mean, you know, it’s huge, depth is huge, and, you know, especially going in these playoff series and whatnot, playing a long season. He’s been huge, man, playing great defense, timely hitting, you know. He’s been hitting all year, so it’s not luck. He’s a really good player,” Betts said of Thompson.
Thompson’s blast made Dodger Stadium shake in exuberant celebration as the guys rounded the bases to come home. This was LA’s third pinch-hit homer this year.
The novelty is that this was the second time Thompson has done so in a Dodger’s uniform. His first was at Dodger Stadium on May 10th, 2016, against the New York Mets – coincidentally, the year Trayce debuted with the Dodgers. He would later be designated for assignment just before Opening Day in 2018.
Judging by his production lately, it seems Trayce Thompson has indeed come home, having been reacquired from the Detroit Tigers on June 20, 2022. Since his return, the Los Angeles, CA native and second-round draft pick in 2009 by the Chicago White Sox out of Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA has been nothing short of amazing on the field and at the plate. His three-run home run on Sunday gave the team the insurance runs they needed and allowed Roberts some flexibility in managing his bullpen.
“Trayce does everything the right way,” Doc said of Thompson postgame. “He’s one-hundred percent onboard. Even talking to the hitting guys, he’s working on different angles as far as the angle from the ball coming in from a left-hander versus right-hander. Does he change his setup just a tick to kind of see the baseball better and he’s been working hard, and for it to pay benefits so quickly was huge. It’s no surprise that he’s having success.”
It has been a noticeable change from the usual mentality to swing for the fences to a more team-centered strategy that involves a lot of small-ball and moving the next guy down the line. The postseason is just around the corner and if the Blue Crew can keep this up, they are currently on pace to win an astonishing 111 games.
The Dodgers will pick up where they left off Monday night in a series against their dreaded rivals – the San Francisco Giants. The bay area team is currently a distant 27.5 games back and in third place in the NL West. Hopefully, Los Angeles can put even more distance between themselves and their less-than-popular Northern California division rivals.
Let’s go Dodgers!