Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak selections — May 27
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Dodgers head into the rubber match of a three-game set against the Padres following a positive offensive performance.
Sometimes a victory barely escapes your grasps. That is what happened to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday, whose offense was clicking on nearly all cylinders.
However, the pitching staff took a hit as Alex Wood let up a big home run to Christian Villanueva that tied the game in the sixth inning. In the seventh, Scott Alexander let up a run on a single from Jose Pirela to give the Padres the lead. In the eighth, Villanueva delivered his second long shot of the night, a solo shot, to give the Padres their eventual 7-5 victory.
However, the Dodgers offense still came away with eight hits. Seven of the eight starting position players came away with a hit, which seemingly would be good for out Beat the Streak series.
It was not good for me, as I selected the only position player to not get a base hit in Cody Bellinger. Bellinger went 0-3 on the night but did have an RBI on a bases-loaded walk. While it helped the team, we much rather would’ve seen a grand slam, am I right?
Sarah was more fortunate with her pick, Justin Turner. Turner blasted a solo shot into the Dodgers’ bullpen in the fourth inning that tied the game at two apiece. That homer started a rally, which gave the Dodgers a 4-2 lead, and extended Sarah’s streak.
Sarah’s pick — Current streak 1: Yasmani Grandal
My pick for today is Yasmani Grandal. Grandal has a history of taking Padre pitching deep and I don’t think today will be any different.
Today the Dodgers will send Walker Buehler to the mound, and the last time he faced this lineup, it went pretty well. Grandal was behind the plate in that eventual combined no-hitter.
Today’s game is also slated to be a bullpen game for the Padres, meaning Grandal and the Dodgers will have a chance to finally get through a Padres bullpen that has been pretty strong against them this season. With the game, Grandal is slated to have yet another breakout performance against his former team.
Jason’s pick — Current streak 0: Logan Forsythe
Logan Forsythe has been swinging a decent bat since returning from injury and has a favorable matchup against s southpaw in Matt Strahm.
Forsythe is hitting .233 over the last two weeks, which still is not great, but is an improvement from the sub-Mendoza Line batting average he was posting prior to his injury. Strangely, Forsythe is hitting just .125 against left-handed pitching, which is where the right-handed batter usually makes his living.
Today hopefully will be the first game of many that Forsythe begins to hit left-handed pitching well. The second baseman finally seems to be completely healthy and even delivered with an RBI single last night.
Next: Dodgers team of the week, May 25
Forsythe has actually never faced Strahm and I expect him to have a nice day at the plate in his first looks at the southpaw. I see Forsythe coming up with a two-out RBI knock that will shift the game in the Dodgers’ favor.