Photo Credit: Los Angeles Times
The Dodgers win the series over the Washington Nationals in an emotionally filled Friday and Saturday for fans and players alike.
After winning yesterday on the day they got their rings, the Dodgers follow that up with a day filled with honoring Dodgers legendary manager, Tommy Lasorda, who touched so many hearts not just being a great manager, but as a friend to many. He holds the third spot as one of the most successful managers in baseball history with 2,763 wins, only trailing behind John McGraw and Connie Mack. The Dodgers played a tribute video for fans at the stadium to honor his career and share moments from Dodgers players.
Remembering Tommy.
Dodger players reflect on their most memorable Tommy Lasorda story. pic.twitter.com/FgftIiEN9a
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 11, 2021
Runs A Plenty For The Boys In Blue
Despite still not having Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger in the lineup, the Dodgers were still able to generate offense which shows the insane depth the team has as a whole. It started with a Zack McKinstry 2 RBI single that he managed to poke into right field. Chris Taylor followed it up with a three-run shot into left field, which brought home, Gavin Lux and McKinstry. Justin Turner got in on the action as he smoked one to left field for an RBI double which gave the Dodgers the lead 6-1.
Even with so many runs scored before the 7th inning, AJ Pollock proceeded to put the game to bed with a bases-clearing double to give the Dodgers a 9-3 lead. The offense hasn’t slowed down, scoring a whopping 54 runs in just the nine games they’ve played. Credit does have to go to the pitching side of things as Urias and the rest of the Dodgers bullpen took care of business.
Urias And Bullpen Hold It Down
After giving up the first run of the game, Urias settled down and gave a dominant performance of 5.2 innings of work while only giving up three runs on nine hits. While Urias didn’t go deep, he didn’t have to as he did his job and got the win, while the bullpen sealed the deal for the Dodgers.
After taking over for Urias in the top of the 6th with runners on, Jimmy Nelson displayed a clutch pitching performance by getting out of that jam and going one more inning before handing the ball over. A solid inning followed that up from Dennis Santana, who came in the 8th inning, and while he did give up three hits, he gave up no runs to keep the Dodgers in the lead. That’s when Scott Alexander came in to close out the game in a non save situation and gave up a two-out, two-run blast into the right field to make the game 9-5. Luckily for the Dodgers, it would be the only damage he would give up and settle down to finish it off.
Dodgers Looking For Sweep
The Dodgers will be looking to close out the series with a sweep as they send Clayton Kershaw on the mound for a Sunday start. In his last outing against the Oakland Athletics, he looked like vintage Kershaw as he went seven innings while only giving up one run on four hits and collected eight strikeouts. The Nationals will counter with their ace Max Scherzer, who is looking for a do-over since his last start against the Braves, where he ended up going six innings while giving up four runs on five hits. Game time is at 1:10 pm PST.
Jacob Cisneros is a writer for Dodgers-LowDown. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram @_JacobCisneros.