LOS ANGELES – The Dodgers’ win streak has ended at five games. Bobby Miller retired his last twelve hitters but the offense couldn’t catch up despite multiple rallies.
I have to give a lot of credit to the Tigers’ starting pitcher Reese Olson in this one. He absolutely carved the entire Dodger lineup, who had been hot coming in, throwing six innings of one run baseball with only two hits allowed.
The Detroit staff in general did a nice job of handling the Dodger offense, with Max Muncy being the only one to get to them with a single and a solo home run. While the tying run did come to the plate in both the eighth and ninth for the Dodgers, they were unable to close the gap entirely and tie the game.
Bobby Miller took the mound and after a bit of a rough first three innings, he settled down to retire the last twelve batters he faced. Miller also got into a bit of a shouting match with former Dodger Zach McKinstry after he hit him with a pitch, leading to the two having to be cooled down before returning to play. Miller went six innings, giving up only three hits and allowing two runs while also striking out a solid seven Tigers.
Ryan Brasier came in and allowed an unearned run due to a two-out throwing error by Max Muncy which gave the Tigers some cushion. After him came Evan Phillips to get some work in, and he allowed an earned run over an inning to put the game essentially out of reach. Brusdar Graterol worked a clean ninth and continued to be dominant.
The Dodgers are now 93-58 and have 11 games remaining in the regular season.
Here are my three takeaways:
Muncy Having An Underrated Year
I get on a lot of guys for their batting average, and I still believe that it is one of the most important offensive stats there is. If you were to look at Max Muncy’s .213 batting average, you would think that he is one of the worst hitters on the Dodgers.
Muncy hit his career high tying 36th home run Wednesday night, and now has 102 RBI to go along with it. These numbers alone are among the best in all of baseball. His defense is still a huge issue, but at the plate, not only has he been clutch, but he has been giving this team power and driving in runs in high volume all year.
Bobby Miller Is Ready For the Postseason
It seems like every start Miller gets better and better. His fastball is still ringing in there at 100 MPH, and his off speed arsenal looks like it is still baffling the opposing hitters. While his ERA won’t pop out on the stat sheet, and he has shown some peaks and valleys, he will be a huge part of the postseason for this team this year and for the future as well.
Dodgers Can Play Spoiler?
Usually the team that already has the division clinched and a postseason berth locked up isn’t the one playing spoiler, but this upcoming series could be an opportunity for the Dodgers. They play their franchise rival San Francisco Giants in a four game series starting Thursday and could seriously put their postseason chances in jeopardy with a series win.
The Giants are three games out of the Wild Card and could end their season if they don’t compete with the Dodgers. This is a chance for the Dodgers to knock out their most hated rival at home in what is shaping up to be a playoff atmosphere. I cannot wait for October…
The Dodgers will send Emmet Sheehan to the mound against Kyle Harrison for San Francisco. First pitch is set for 7:10 PM PST Thursday.
