You knew it was not going to be easy to sweep the Braves in Atlanta. The two teams’ best pitchers this year were going to face off against each other. The Braves’ Bryce Elder did his best Houdini by navigating through a lot of traffic in the first four innings without allowing a run.
Although it would have been nice to see what might have been had the plate umpire not called two pitches that were clearly balls, strikes. I know it happens to both teams, but it sure feels like it happens to the Dodgers at the most inopportune time. Or maybe it is just my bias And JDM got two horrendous calls.
The Dodgers put 7 runners on base in the 1st 4 innings, but could not get anyone across. They left 2 runners on base in each of the first three innings. They got the leadoff batter on in the 4th but a nifty DP by the Braves erased the Miguel Vargas after he reached via HBP.
Meanwhile, Tony Gonsolin was breezing through the first 10 batters, retiring all 10 on 36 pitches and 3 K. But Matt Olson worked a 7 pitch AB with a monstrous HR. It was 456 feet with an exit velo of 115.9 MPH. It was most certainly no cheapie.
Mookie then hit a ball 365 feet with an exit velo of 105 MPH. Olson’s was more majestic, but the counted as one run each.
In the 5th, with one out, Gonsolin could not find the plate for Ozzie Albies. After 1 strike, he threw 4 pitches that were never close and Albies drew a one-out BB. And on a 2-2 pitch he left 87.4 MPH slider that did not break much out over the middle of the plate that Marcell Ozuna crushed for a 2-run HR and a Braves 3-1 lead.
With one out in the 6th Austin Riley cracked a double into LF. That was the third hit of Gonsolin, and all three had an exit velo of 107 or greater. Austin went to 3rd on a F-8, and Shelby Miller was brought in to get Eddie Rosario. Miller did strike out Rosario for the final out of the 6th.
Miller pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning. And that set the stage for the Dodgers 8th inning rally. Will Smith opened the 8th with a single of Nick Anderson. After Max Muncy struck out, JDM doubled Smith to third. Jason Heyward had a productive out with his run scoring ground ball, with JDM moving to third. That brought Rookie Miguel Vargas to the plate. With a clutch AB, Miggy hit a ground rule double to plate JDM with the tying score, and left a runner in scoring position, Unfortunately, David Peralta could not get Vargas home.
With the help of a 6-4-3 DP, Victor González faced the minimum in the 8th.
With 2 outs, Freddie walked and moved to second on Will Smith’s second hit of the game and 5th over the last two games. Muncy had another chance to come through, but he popped out to end the LAD 9th.
With both Evan Phillips and Caleb Ferguson pitching in the first two games, neither were available to come in the 9th. Phil Bickford (or as my wife calls him – The Pirate), came in to pitch the 9th. Don’t ask, I have no idea why she calls him The Pirate. But in our household Bickford will be known as The Pirate.
Austin Riley led off with his 2nd double of the night. He moved to 3rd on a Travis d’Arnaud ground ball to Freddie on a 3-1 out. He needed a strikeout of Albies. He got Albies to 1-2 and then had three foul balls before he hit a slider down but too much over the plate into RF for the walk off sac fly.
Bickford is going to blame himself, but on a night the pitching was very good except for two pitches, it was the offense that deserves the loss. The Dodgers outhit Atlanta 12 to 5, and were 1-10 WRISP.
While as fans we can be upset for this loss. However, the Dodgers still went into Atlanta in a playoff atmosphere to take 2 of 3 from the Braves. They started (and won with) two rookie pitchers. They outscored the Braves 19-11. They batted .294 (33-112) for the three games. There is a lot to build on. It is going to be a bumpy road with many twists and turns. They fought hard in this series and came back in two of them, winning one. They did not give up.
Yes they lost the third game, but it was still a good series. They are still in 1st place in the NL West, have the 2nd best winning percentage in the NL and 5th best in MLB. What other team can lose the number of starting pitchers the Dodgers have, lose their starting SS, and be in this position? Some may still like the Padres, but for me the Dodgers are the best TEAM.
Now go win 2 out of 3 in Tampa Bay. The Dodgers will be pitching Noah Syndergaard, Clayton Kershaw, and Gavin Stone. LAD should miss both Shane McClanahan and Zach Eflin. I am not sure who Tampa Bay will be starting, but the Dodgers may have caught a break.
05-24-2025 – MiLB Summary Report
Sacramento River Cats (SF Giants) 6 – OKC Dodgers 5
OKC jumped out to a 5-1 lead after 5. But Sacramento scored 1 in the 7th and 3 in the 8th to tie the score.
Sacramento scored an unearned run in the 1st after a two out fielding and throwing error put a runner on second, and a single scored him.
OKC tied it in the 3rd on a Justin Yurchak BB, and a pair of 2-out singles by Luke Williams and Michael Busch. In the 5th, with 2 outs, OKC had three straight singles by Busch, Jonny DeLuca, and Ryan Ward, a BB to Devin Mann, and a double by Hunter Feduccia scored 4.
The first inning unearned run was the only run scored against Matt Andriese in his 5.1 IP. With one out and a runner on 1st Alex Vesia came in to relieve Andriese. He walked Matt Beaty, but struck out the next two batters. Vesia came back out in the 7th inning. He gave up a single to Michael Gigliotti. Gigliotti moved to 2nd on a PB. Moved to 3rd on a ground out and scored on a WP. The first two River Cat runs were unearned, but they count just the same.
Mark Washington retired the first two batters in the 8th. Two singles and a 3-run HR by Ricardo Genovese (2) tied the score. Gus Varland pitched a perfect 9th.
OKC and Sacramento moved into the 10th. With the runner on 2nd, two OKC batters struck out and one grounded out.
Keegan Curtis came in to relief in the 10th. With runner at 2nd, Curtis walked the 1st batter he faced. Hunter Feduccia had his 2nd PB of the game, and runners moved up to 2nd and 3rd. David Villar singled to score the walkoff run.
- Michael Busch – 3-5, 1 run, 1 RBI
- Hunter Feduccia – 1-3, 1 BB, 3 RBI, double (5)
- Yonny Hernandez – 1-3, 1 BB, double (6)
Tulsa Drillers 1 – NW Arkansas Travelers (KC) 0
This was a big time pitchers duel for 7.0 innings. Both Landon Knack and Travelers’ SP, Noah Cameron, were scoreless through 7, and both allowed 4 base runners. Knack allowed 4 singles, but no BB and 6 K. Cameron allowed 3 singles and 1 BB to go with 6 K. Knack’s ERA is now down to 1.32 and his WHIP is down to 0.80.
Landon has had four consecutive games with at least 5.0 IP. He allowed 3 runs in those 20.1 IP. Now it is 3 runs in 27.1 in his last 27.1 IP. He has allowed 2 earned runs in only 1 game this year. He has accomplished what he has needed to do in AA. It cannot be long before he is moved to AAA. Can it?
For the Drillers in the 10th, Diego Cartaya started at 2B. Carson Taylor lifted a fly ball to CF that moved Cartaya to 3rd with 1 out. Imanol Vargas was sent up to PH for Brandon Lewis, and was IBB. Next batter was Kody Hoese. He got two quick strikes, but fouled off the next two pitches before hitting a sac fly to RF to give Tulsa a 1-0 walk off win in 10 innings.
The Drillers had three singles.
Great Lakes Loons 7 – Peoria Chiefs 4
The Loons’ Ronan Kopp was set to face the Chiefs 20 year old RHP, Tink Hence. Hence is the Cardinals #3 prospect. In the 1st inning, Austin Gauthier led off with a walk. That was followed by an Alex Freeland single. With one out, Damon Keith slugged his 7th HR of the season and a 3-0 lead.
Kopp matched his season high IP with 4.0. Kopp struck out the side in the 1st, but he also allowed a double and run scoring single between the strikeouts. Kopp allowed one additional single and one BB, but retired the side in order in his final inning. He threw 48 pitches in his 4.0 innings.
Robbie Peto relieved Kopp and pitched a scoreless two innings. In his third inning he gave up a leadoff single. With one out, he allowed a run-scoring double.
Juan Morillo pitched a scoreless 8th inning. Hoping the 1st inning 3-run HR would hold up, Antonio Knowles was called in for the save. However he surrendered a game-tying HR in the 9th.
In the 10th, it was all Loons. With Frank Rodriguez starting at 2B, Austin Gauthier worked a BB. Alex Freeland followed with a run scoring double. Taylor Young singled home 2 more. After Damon Keith flew out to RF for the 1st out, Ismael Alcantara drew a BB. Young stole 3rd and scored on a fielder’s choice.
Staked to a 4 run lead. Aldry Acosta was brought in to shut down the Chiefs and preserve the win in a non-save situation. With a runner on 2nd, a fly ball moving the runner to 3rd, and a WP scored the one and only run Peoria would score in the 10th.
- Alex Freeland – 3-5, 2 runs, 1 RBI, double (7)
- Damon Keith – 1-5, 1 run, 3 RBI, HR (7)
- Taylor Young – 1-5, 1 run, 2 RBI
Lake Elsinore Storm (San Diego) 8 – Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 2
Chris Campos did not have a good outing in this one. He allowed 5 runs by walking 4 and allowing 3 hits in just 2.1 IP. Kelvin Bautista allowed 3 unearned runs to push the score to 8-0.
Fran Castro relieved Bautista in the 5th, and navigated through a couple of scoreless innings with a lot of traffic, allowing a double, 2 singles, and a BB.
For the 1st 6 innings, RC was able to muster just a single (Nick Biddison) and two walks.
Christian Reubeck, Carlos Martinez, and Jon Edwards pitched the final 3.0 innings with out allowing a run or hit. The did issue 2 walks, but registered 7 Ks.
RC finally broke through in the 7th. A walk to Thayron Liranzo, and singles by Nick Biddison and Dayton Dooney scored a run. In the 8th, Chris Newell drew a leadoff walk. With one out, Thayron Liranzo singled Newell to 3rd, where he scored on a WP.
- Nick Biddison – 2-4, triple (2)
Posts may be thin for the next couple of days. Today we are celebrating a couple of anniversaries. It is my wife’s and my 49th wedding anniversary. It was also 19 years ago today that our son, Andy, made his MLB debut.
Plus I am going to watch OKC against the Sacramento River Cats on Friday and Saturday nights.
Congratulations. Enjoy the weekend.
What? Taking time with family instead of us old farts? Good plan.
Two first inning strike three calls took two runners off the bases that should have walked. That was at least one run taken from the Dodgers.
The other day Smith had his consecutive on base string broken with a strike three call that was ball four.
Install ABS at the All Star break.
The at bats between Muncy’s three run home runs are painful to watch. Martinez should be the cleanup hitter but if Roberts wants to insert a lefty bat between Smith and Martinez one would think there would be a decent one between all the lefty bats on this team.
The good news is Muncy appears to no longer be hunting walks. The bad news is Muncy is chasing. The first rule of hitting – get a good pitch to hit.
4 IP, again. With Kopp.
here is my theory… The development program is the first build the pitching arsenal, having stuff that will play for more than four innings. They develop that in four innings or less. Then it’s just a matter of stretching out the picture.
He’s not hunting base hits either. Freeman is known for thinking line drive over the shortstop’s head and then react to pitch location. Smith drives in a lot of runs by just trying to make contact with runners on third. Muncy, only big swings regardless of situation.
Muncy has turned into another KT3.
Yep one approach, and one approach only the same swing all the time. Damn the torpedoes damn the team.
Kopp is a fastball/slider pitcher. His third pitch, changeup, is well below average. His control is below average. His additional innings could also be used to work on placement (control and command), and secondary/tertiary pitches.
Kopp is not a Ben Harris, Nick Robertson, Mark Washington, Braydon Fisher, Jordan Leasure, Ryan Sublette, Jake Pilarski, and Aldry Acosta (for Bluto), 1.0 inning pitchers. He is more in the role of multi inning reliever. Orlando Ortiz-Mayr is also in that role, except he does come in relief. Caleb Ferguson was being groomed for that, but he became too valuable as a high leverage reliever.
Kyle Hurt is in that role. Hurt has such an outstanding K/9 (17.69) and K/BB (7.33) that he is a natural late inning or multi inning reliever. He will be in MLB, but as a reliever (IMO). Hurt starts tonight for Tulsa.
Bobby Miller is a SP. Landon Knack is a SP. Nick Frasso is as well. Maddux Bruns is thought of as a SP. But he is going to need to show he can get to the lineup for the third time before the fourth inning. It is still too early for Emmet Sheehan, River Ryan, and Nick Nastrini to formulate a final plan. They will be given every opportunity to continue to start.
Nastrini has 3 plus pitches (fastball, slider, curve) and an average for a 4th (change). River Ryan has one plus pitch (fastball) and 3 above average pitches (curve, change, and cutter). Emmet Sheehan is basically a 2-pitch pitcher (fastball/change).
Ryan Pepiot, Michael Grove, and Gavin Stone are considered SP, but I would not be surprised if 1, 2, or all 3 were converted to relief at some point. For now, they need to be starters.
Ben Casparius, Yon Castro, Justin Wrobleski, Jerming Rosario, Payton Martin, Chris Campos, Jared Karros, Luis Valdez, and Joel Ibarra are still in the infant stage, and not with a lot of prospect pedigree. Although Ibarra looks to being groomed as a reliever.
Kyle Glaser responded to my emailed question about why there are so few prospect for prospect trades!
Thanks for reaching out. A lot of it simply has to do with the fact that teams primarily look at prospects as trade capital for major leaguers. You’re essentially trading the future for the present. There’s not really much incentive for a team to trade a prospect for another prospect – if you’re going to take the future risk of trading prospects, might as well trade them for a major leaguer who you know will help you now.
Yet prospect after prospect find their way to the Majors. There are teams with prospect infield depth and those with pitching or catching depth. His answer was at best half right.
LOL.
Well played.
Your thinking is not flawed conceptually. The Dodgers have a ton of RHP prospects and no true middle infield or CF prospects. Why trade 2-3 prospects for a 3 month rental. But Glaser is right about how MLB execs think. They know what they have in their prospects.
I have a post ready to go for tomorrow, a little bit on the subject. At least as it pertains to SS.
There is still a lot of chatter out there on the start of Bobby Miller. The most common characteristic is that his stuff was “electric”. I was thinking about both Miller and Stone. For me, Miller is a lot like Walker Buehler. He has multiple pitches and he can overpower a batter. Stone for me is more in the line of Julio Urías. Neither pitcher has a deep repertoire of pitches. They both tend to nibble because they need to rely on location. But when their command is on, they are unhittable. Just like with Buehler, it may not take long for Miller to become a solid in the rotation, and just like with Julio, it may take Stone a bit longer, and with some time in the bullpen. Both are MLB pitchers and their future is very bright.
I may be in the minority, but I like Harold Reynolds. I know he is not very favorable about the Dodgers, but he did have this to say about Bobby Miller’s start.
That comp to Josh Beckett is spot on (IMO). They are both 6’5” 220-230. As we saw in the 4th and 5th innings of Miller’s debut, his fastball can explode on the hitters, just as Beckett’s did, and Miller will rely on his breaking stuff to get a lot of swing and miss, just like Beckett.
I like Harold Reynolds too.
Then again I like that blues singing Muncy fan.
Two things:
The crazy thing is that if you took the pitchers on the IL, you’d have a fucking amazing rotation and bullpen:
Grove, Pepiot, Beuhler, Urias and May.
In the Pen you’d have:
Cyr, Nelson, Hudson, Reyes, Treinen, and Feyereisen
I do not think you are in the minority thinking that Miller needs more seasoning. I am in that category, and I believe Dodgers baseball personnel believe it as well. He has still not proven that he can be consistent from game to game. He will get the Nationals, and then I believe Urías will be back for the NYY series. At least that is the plan. I think I read that having Miller face Atlanta was tough, but the Dodgers do not want Miller facing NYY.
Atlanta is probably a tougher opponent than the Yankees, at least if you compare the batting stats.
Miller has been very inconsistent in his minor league career and that, in itself, might mean he should get more AAA experience, but if he should have to face the Yankees (if Urias doesn’t make it back for that series) it shouldn’t present any more of a challenge for him than the Braves.
He just needs to understand that he’ll give up a couple of dingers to Judge and he can concentrate on the rest of their lineup.
And Miller would have 2 games worth of experience of starting in the big leagues, plus being at home this time.
Another factor: what if Gavin Stone, who seems to have been named the de facto replacement for Dustin May for the next 2 months, has another bad start this weekend, and Miller has another good game? Does that reverse those two, and perhaps Stone goes to the bullpen or back to the minors while Bobby Miller replaces Dustin May for 2 months?
Best case, both do well, and Thor is given a trip back to the Marvel World.
It’s like reading a good mystery novel. Can’t wait to find out how it ends and yet don’t want the book to end either. If Miller and Stone need more experience to reach their prime, I prefer to keep them swimming in the deep end for getting that experience.
I’m guessing I am going to rate that mystery novel higher if it ends with Stone and Miller staying in the rotation and winning some World Series games.
Question about Miller; it was said at the start of the game that he didn’t have a high spin rate. In his last two innings his fastball showed more movement. Why was that?
That’s what I was wondering. I was thinking, maybe in the beginning he was just trying to throw strikes, and then after he got comfortable after a couple innings he really started letting it go. Just a guess.