Dodgers Beat the Streak: Going for a sweep in New York
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Dodgers are looking to sweep the New York Mets after hitting grand slams in back-to-back games. Who will hit today?
The Los Angeles Dodgers live and die by the long ball and the long ball has treated the team well the last two games. Cody Bellinger and Matt Kemp have supplied back-to-back grand slams that have led to the team scoring 13 runs over the last two games.
Los Angeles overcame the biggest challenge of the series in Jacob DeGrom in game two. Clayton Kershaw also made his return and pitched just three innings, serving a rehab start of sorts in a Major League game.
Tonight, the Dodgers face southpaw Jerry Blevins, serving as a source of relief from the dominant DeGrom. This season, Blevins owns a 1-1 record and a 4.86 ERA in 16.2 innings pitched.
Opposing Blevins is Rich Hill. Hill has not been great this season for the Dodgers, however, Hill often heats up around June and July. Hill likely will deliver six or so solid innings, allowing a run or two in the process.
Regardless, the Dodgers bats need to do their part to ensure a series sweep to hopefully cut separation with the Diamondbacks.
The bats also need to be hot to extend our Dodgers Beat the Streak hitting streaks. In fact, the last two days I have predicted my hits to the tee.
On Friday, I went with Cody Bellinger, predicting that he would slug a huge Bellibomb that would decide the game. He hit a grand slam. Yesterday, I predicted that Chris Taylor would come up with the hit of the game to shift the momentum with two outs.
Taylor delivered a pinch-hit two-out, two-run double in the top of the fourth to put the Dodgers ahead. While Sarah’s prediction was not exact to the tee, her pick Yasmani Grandal extended her streak.
Sarah’s pick — Current streak 4:
My pick for today is Cody Bellinger. The Dodgers have been absolute dynamite in New York, and not just this season so far. Going back to the beginning of last year, the Dodgers have virtually owned the Mets, and veteran infielder Chase Utley is a big part of that.
Today, however, I think it’ll be the young guys getting it done against the Mets. Today’s finale in Queens will feature Rich Hill on the mound for LA and Jerry Blevins for the Mets. Hill had a very solid outing last time on the mound in Chicago and is slated to repeat in the Big Apple. Cody Bellinger, though, could be the one, hopefully, helping the Dodgers towards the sweep.
Jason’s pick — Current streak 3: Yasiel Puig
The Los Angeles Dodgers have faced Jerry Blevins for a combined 15 at-bats. In those 15 at-bats, the team has just one hit. That one hit belongs to Justin Turner, who is not in the starting lineup for tonight’s game.
Chances are that Blevins will not continue this level of dominance came primarily out of the bullpen and Blevins is making his first career start. While that does not mean he cannot exceed, the Dodgers are going to jump on the usual bullpen pitcher to try to chase him out of the game early.
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Thus, I think that Yasiel Puig is going to come up in a big spot in the first inning out of the five-hole. There, Puig is going to deliver a rope to right center field that gives him an RBI in the first inning of the game.