Phew!

The Dodgers will a thriller

The game ended like 17 hours ago but I think my heart rate is finally back down to a normal speed. Although the Dodgers were in control for majority of the game, things got way too interesting in the top of the ninth.

Luckily they managed to escape the damage and leave Dodger Stadium with a 4-2 victory. They now head to New York with a commanding 2-0 lead, but the job is far from finished.

About that 9th inning….

That’s where we have to start. The Dodgers entered the ninth with a very comfortable three-run cushion. Up until that point, the Yankees had only one hit through eight innings. It was looking like it’d be a quick ninth and the team would be on their way to New York.

Getting the ball in the ninth was Blake Treinen, which I thought was a very questionable move. He pitched the night prior, throwing 22 pitches. The Yankees also did some damage against him, so I thought it was odd that was who Dave Roberts turned to.

Safe to say, it was one of the few mistakes of the postseason so far.

Treinen allowed a leadoff hit to Juan Soto, who had the only two hits of the night for the Yankees at that point. Treinen struck out Aaron Judge, now needing only two outs to secure the victory. He then allowed the next three batters to reach base, loading the bases with only one out.

He clearly didn’t have it, but Roberts opted to stick with him for whatever reason. We’ve seen the Dodgers be aggressive with their bullpen over the years, but for some reason they wanted Treinen to seemingly get out of the jam himself.

With the bases loaded, Treinen struck out Anthony Volpe for the second out. At this point, Roberts pulled Treinen and went with Alex Vesia. Overall, Treinen faced six batters and threw 33 pitches. That makes 55 pitches over a 24-hour stretch for him. Not ideal!

Vesia came in needing only one out, but the bases were still loaded. The tying run was at second base and the go-ahead run was at first base. Thankfully, Vesia needed only one pitch to retire Jose Trevino, getting him to fly out.

That inning could have been disastrous. After looking like they had the win locked up, the Dodgers nearly blew it in what would have been one of the worst postseason losses in franchise history. I mean, can you imagine if the Yankees would have pulled off the comeback and we’d be going back to New York tied 1-1? That would be terrible.

Luckily Treinen got the massive strikeout when it was needed and Vesia was able to close the door. My heart rate couldn’t take that game lasting any longer.

Yoshinobu FREAKING Yamamoto!!!

Remember when a lot of Dodgers fans were worried about Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting Game 5 of the NLDS? Good times.

Yamamoto had the best outing of his young MLB career last night. He went 6.1 innings, allowing only one run on one hit. The way he was going through batters, he probably had a couple more outs in him. The Dodgers pulled him after 86 pitches, which was probably the right move.

He struck out four, had 12 swing-and-misses and generated a called strike/whiff percentage of 29. Yamamoto was paid to be an ace in the biggest games for he Dodgers. He’s done just that.

Since Game 5 of the NLDS, Yamamoto’s numbers have been sensational. In three starts, he’s posted a 1.72 ERA and 0.72 WHIP. Opponents are hitting .132 off him. In 15.2 innings, Yamamoto has 14 strikeouts and only four walks. Safe to say, he’s living up to his contract.

Yamamoto struggled in the first inning, as he walked the leadoff batter and allowed him to get into scoring position with one out. He worked out of the jam but still threw 25 pitches. He really settled in after that.

The only hit he’d allow on the night was a home run to Juan Soto in the third inning. He got ahead in the count but made one bad pitch that Soto crushed into the bullpen. Yamamoto retired the final 11 batters he faced after that.

It wasn’t pretty to start his postseason career, but damn I fully trust him on the mound in a big game now.

Shohei Ohtani’s injury

Every baseball fan in the world was holding their breath late in this one. In the bottom of the seventh, Shohei Ohtani was thrown out trying to steal second base. He slid awkwardly and was on the ground in clear pain.

When walking back to the dugout he was holding his arm and you could tell something was wrong. Shortly after, it was reported that Ohtani hurt his shoulder.

Immediately, I’m sure we were all thinking about the worst-case scenario. His season would likely be over. It looked like a pretty severe injury and with only a few days left in the season, it didn’t seem likely he’d be playing.

Well, as of this afternoon, we have some pretty positive reports. Per ESPN’s Karl Ravech, Roberts texted him and said Shohei is “in a great spot and will be playing in game 3 tomorrow.”

Per Jack Harris of the LA Times, the Dodgers’ hope is to have Shohei Ohtani in the lineup for Game 3, though a final decision on his availability hasn’t been made yet.

Considering I was expecting the worst news possible, this is great to hear. Obviously there are some more boxes to check, but it sounds like Ohtani will be in there tomorrow, which would be massive news. I know he’s struggled so far this series, but the Dodgers kinda need his bat in there.

This makes winning last night that much more important. Can you imagine if the series was tied and we didn’t have Shohei in the lineup?