TORONTO — The Dodgers used a balance of strong pitching and timely offense to earn their sixth consecutive win on Saturday, a 4-2 victory over the Blue Jays at Toronto’s Roger Centre.
Right-hander Tyler Glasnow (5-1) was the story of the day, allowing two hits and one run over six innings while striking out nine.
On the other side, Blue Jays left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (2-2) was roughed up in his six innings, allowing four runs.
While Mookie Betts was the only Dodger to have a multi-hit game, the entire lineup had at least one hit for 11 in the game. The Dodgers (18-11) took the three-game series from the Jays are looking for the sweep on Sunday.
Here are three takeaways:
Glasnow stays hot
Glasnow lowered his ERA to 2.72 with the dominant six innings Saturday.
“The fastball was probably the best it’s been all year,” he said.
He threw a fastball 66 out of 95 pitches, which is significantly higher than his average over the course of the season.
He is now the league leader in strikeouts (53), and while there was an injury scare at the end of his outing, it was announced to be hand cramping, which he has dealt with a few times in his career.
The injury does not look to be serious and he should be available for his next start.
Betts still torrid
With his three-hit game, Betts now ranks first in hits (45), batting average (.391), on base percentage (.368) and OPS (.812). And he stole his eighth base.
Mookie is the clear cut MVP front-runner, and with all of the Ohtani hype, it felt like people forgot about how good Betts can be when at his peak.
Smith having career start
After signing his 10-year, $140 million dollar extension, it seems that catcher Will Smith has been playing looser. There is no question he was one of the top five offensive catchers in baseball before the season, but with his hot start, this is the best version of Smith the league has seen.
Is he a top five catcher? Smith is now hitting .367, with a .404 OBP and a .924 OPS.
The Dodgers will look to sweep again as they will probably use an opener against Jays starter Kevin Gausman in a 10:37 p.m. Sunday game.
