Dodgers Sweep Giants, Head to Houston – 5/23/21

Dodgers Sweep Giants

Dodgers Sweep Giants, Head to Houston – 5/23/21

With the series already won, the Dodgers did their job in San Francisco, but a sweep of the Giants would be the cherry on top. They knocked the Giants out of first place on this road trip, and today they were going to drop them into third place. After two incredible performances from Buehler and Bauer in this series, it was time for Urías to do his thing in the finale. 

Dodgers Offense Explodes Early

It wouldn’t take the Dodgers long to get their offense going. Smith led off the 2nd inning with a base hit, and Beaty followed him up with a walk. With runners on the corners, Tsutsugo singles to put the Dodgers on the board. Urías helped himself out, and his first career extra-base hit gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead! His two-out double came off the bat at 104.4 MPH, which was the Dodgers’ hardest-hit ball to that point. 

Seven Runs in the Third

The offense wasn’t done with their fun just yet. In the 3rd inning, they exploded for seven runs. Back-to-back RBI base hits from Beaty and Taylor out the Dodgers up 5-0. The Giants intentionally walked Peters to face Urías with the bases loaded, who knocked in his third run of the game on an infield base hit. That brought Gavin Lux to the plate with the bases loaded. Lux, who has been insanely hot in May, wasn’t about to cool off just yet. He launched his second grand slam of the week(!) and gave the Dodgers a 10-0 lead. Muncy added on one more for good measure with a leadoff home run in the 4th inning. His 10th home run of the season made it an 11-0 Dodgers lead. 

 

If you watched today’s game, you know exactly how good Urías was. If you didn’t watch, you missed five perfect innings of some fantastic baseball from Urías. Lux made a diving play in the 5th to keep the perfect game intact. But in the 6th, a slow roller from Tauchman was the first hit of the game when Lux couldn’t make the barehanded play. Before that base hit, though, the third base umpire missed a check-swing call which would’ve ended Tauchman’s AB. Either way, Slater hit a home run, and the shutout was broken up as well. It still doesn’t take away just how impressive Urías was today. It was the third quality start from a Dodgers starter this series and Urías third in a row. He was brilliant, to say the least. 

Bullpen Lets The Gap Narrow

The bullpen wasn’t the hottest in this one. Price did his thing, but Uceta ran into some trouble in the 8th. While on the mound, it became an 11-5 Dodgers lead, and he couldn’t get out of the inning. Before today’s game, Jimmy Nelson went to the IL, and Phil Bickford got called up. He came into clean up the mess Uceta had created on the basepaths. While he hit a guy, he didn’t allow a run to come across and got out of the inning. Santana got the 9th and struggled with his command but was able to shut it down. Dodgers pull out the win 11-5.

Dodgers Sweep Giants

The Dodgers just finished off back-to-back sweeps against NL West opponents and are only one game back from first place. They’ve won 11 of their last 12 and still aren’t entirely healthy. Bellinger and McKinstry are expected to be back next weekend, and let’s hope Mookie’s shoulder soreness isn’t an issue come Tuesday. With the day off tomorrow, the Dodgers will head to Houston to begin a two-game series against the Astros. As of now, it’s looking like we’ll see Kershaw vs. Greinke for the first game of the series.

First pitch is at 5:10 PM PDT.

To read about last night’s game and Max Muncy’s most recent splash-down, click here.

Photo Credit – Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

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