The Los Angeles Dodgers are poised to take over first place in the division at the end of the first half.
The Dodgers defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 at Dodger Stadium on Sunday behind a strong start from Julio Urias and a big day from Freddie Freeman.
With their second straight win, the Dodgers improved to 49-38 and cut the NL West lead to half a game over the Arizona Diamondbacks (50-38). Arizona was swept by the New York Mets, 9-0, earlier in the day to snap a four-game losing streak.
They are two games ahead of the third-place San Francisco Giants (47-40) in the division and one game behind the second-place Miami Marlins (51-38) in the wild card. Whether it’s first place in the division or first place in the wild card, the Dodgers are in control. The Dodgers were third in the division, four games behind Arizona, as recently as March 19. It was their widest gap of the season. Since then, the Dodgers have gone on a tear, going 10-5 in their last 15 games.
It was their most comfortable win of the season. In his second start since returning from injury, Urias allowed three hits and one walk over six innings, striking out eight and walking two to improve to 6-5 on the season.
Urias was placed on the disabled list on May 20 with a left hamstring strain and spent 42 days on the disabled list before returning to action on May 2. It was his first quality start in nearly two months, as he was coming off a disastrous outing against the Kansas City Royals in which he allowed five runs on six hits in three innings.”Every Dodgers starter has been on the disabled list since the start of the year, and several prospects haven’t been able to handle the pressure,” MLB.com wrote, “but Urias has shown the ability to be the steadying force the team desperately needs.메이저사이트
Most notably, Jupo Freeman came through in the center field with a home run and RBI. Freeman started things off with a leadoff double in the bottom of the first inning. On a 1B1S count, he lined a three-pitch 89-mph body slider from starter Johan Oviedo over the left field fence for a two-run arch.
It was Freeman’s first home run since May 22 against the Los Angeles Angels. The RBI came six days after his last at Kansas City on April 2. Freeman had been in a bit of a slump this month, going 5-for-21 until the day before. But he followed up his multi-hit performance the day before by going 4-for-4 with a home run, three RBIs and two runs scored.
On the season, he’s batting .320 (111-for-347) with 15 home runs, 57 RBIs, 68 runs scored, and a .939 OPS. His OPS ranks third in both leagues, behind only Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels) and Ronald Acuña Jr. (Atlanta Braves). Freeman was on fire on defense in the eighth inning, making a sliding catch of Josh Palacios’ grounder with the bases loaded to turn a double play and stealing second base in the seventh.
The Dodgers broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning with a Max Muncy double to center field, then put the game out of reach in the seventh with a Freeman RBI single to make it 5-2. In relief, Alex Vecchia retired the next three batters to earn his first save of the season.
The Dodgers now close out the first half of the season with a two-game freeway series against the Los Angeles Angels at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 8-9.MLB.com wrote, “Every Dodger starter has been on the disabled list since the start of the year, and several prospects have been unable to handle the pressure…Urias confirmed his ability to provide the steady hand the team desperately needs.
Most notably, Jupo Freeman came through in the center field with a home run and RBI. Freeman started things off with a leadoff double in the bottom of the first inning. On a 1B1S count, he lined a three-pitch 89-mph body slider from starter Johan Oviedo over the left field fence for a two-run arch.
It was Freeman’s first home run since May 22 against the Los Angeles Angels. The RBI came six days after his last at Kansas City on April 2. Freeman had been in a bit of a slump this month, going 5-for-21 until the day before. But he followed up his multi-hit performance the day before by going 4-for-4 with a home run, three RBIs and two runs scored.
On the season, he’s batting .320 (111-for-347) with 15 home runs, 57 RBIs, 68 runs scored, and a .939 OPS. His OPS ranks third in both leagues, behind only Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels) and Ronald Acuña Jr. (Atlanta Braves). Freeman was on fire on defense in the eighth inning, making a sliding catch of Josh Palacios’ grounder with the bases loaded to turn a double play and stealing second base in the seventh.
The Dodgers broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning with a Max Muncy double to center field, then put the game out of reach in the seventh with a Freeman RBI single to make it 5-2. In relief, Alex Vecchia retired the next three batters to earn his first save of the season.
The Dodgers will now close out the first half of the season with a two-game freeway series against the Los Angeles Angels at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 8-9.