LOS ANGELES — “You can never have too many friends.”
The official motto of Hello Kitty rang true on her night at Dodger Stadium. Eric Lauer had just enough friends hitting home runs for him (three) to build a lead many apples taller than the Kansas City Royals could climb, as the Dodgers completed a three-game sweep with a 4-2 victory on Wednesday night.
The Dodgers came home from the road having lost eight of nine games, ceding their position as a bye-holder in the National League. They seem to have put things right with their first three-game winning streak since a four-game streak July 21-25 just as the Milwaukee Brewers come stumbling into town. The Brewers have the best record in the National League (one game better than the Dodgers) despite just being swept themselves in San Diego.
Before the game, Manager Dave Roberts acknowledged the Dodgers would have “a lot of guys down” in their bullpen based on recent usage.
“It’ll be an interesting night,” he said.
When Lauer needed 64 pitches to get through the first three innings and gave up runs in the second and third – one unearned thanks to a throwing error by shortstop Mookie Betts – it looked like Lauer might make it interesting indeed.
After a Starling Marte single with one out in the third inning, though, Lauer retired 10 straight batters and 12 of the final 13 he faced, pitching into the seventh inning. He threw 112 pitches, the most by any Dodgers starter this season and just three short of his career-high set in July 2018 while pitching for the San Diego Padres against the Dodgers.
Lauer’s friends started chipping in with a solo home run by Mookie Betts in the second inning. Home runs in back-to-back games are part of an 11-for-26 surge from Betts.
Shohei Ohtani has been on the opposite end of that temperature gauge. He came into Wednesday with just three hits in 20 at-bats since his two-homer game at Wrigley Field last week. But he lined a two-run home run into the left field pavilion in the third inning to give the Dodgers the lead.
Hunter Feduccia added to it with a solo home run in the fifth, his first home run in two tours with the Dodgers.
That left a two-run lead for Lauer to hand to the Dodgers’ depleted bullpen in the seventh. Just how depleted Roberts’ relief resources were was evident in his first choice to protect that lead – Landon Knack arrived from Triple-A Oklahoma City earlier in the day, promoted despite his 9.00 ERA in two previous appearances in the majors this season (a season delayed by an intercostal injury).
Knack got through the seventh despite giving up back-to-back hits to Bobby Witt Jr. and Jac Caglianone that put runners on the corners. The two-run lead survived the eighth despite the Dodgers’ infield gathering around the pitcher’s mound to watch Carter Jensen’s pop-up fall to the ground.
First baseman Freddie Freeman did the falling moments later when he tumbled down the steps of the visitors’ dugout in pursuit of a foul pop-up. Dodger fans clutched their limited edition Hello Kitty (and friends) plush clips tightly as Freeman disappeared from view.
He emerged in one piece but left the game for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the inning.
Knack retired the side without incident in the ninth inning to collect an eight-out save.
More to come on this story.