Los Angeles Dodgers: Walking into Wednesday with Walker Buehler
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Dodgers did something that has literally never been done before on Tuesday and you bet we are going to overuse the heck out of it.
The Los Angeles Dodgers appeared to be done on Tuesday night. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the bases empty and a full count, Chris Taylor was down to the game’s final strike. Then he walked.
Rusell Martin was also down to the last strike of the game with yet another full count. He walked. Alex Verdugo took a breaking ball that was marginally high to walk the bases loaded. Matt Beaty walked on four pitches to tie the game. Cody Bellinger walked on yet another 3-2 count to win the game.
They say patience is a virtue and the Los Angeles Dodgers put that on full display on Tuesday night, accomplishing something that has never been done before in the live ball era.
Now, even more ironically, the Dodgers send a guy named Walker to the mound on Wednesday, looking to extend the home winning streak to eight games, the last four being via walk-off.
Walker Buehler got beat up in his last start, which happened at Coors Field, allowing 13 hits and seven earned runs in five and two-thirds innings. That start soured what was an absolutely dominant month for Buehler as he looks to get off to a hot start in July.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are going to look to get the offense going more than last night as well. While walks are fun and certainly impressive, the team should be looking to end its walk-off ways with a dominant win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
As part of our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak series, here is who we think can get a base hit off of Arizona and starting pitcher Merrill Kelly.
Jason’s pick (Current streak: 8): Max Muncy
Max Muncy did not get a hit on Tuesday night, however, he was able to yet again get on base with, you guessed it, a walk.
Although Muncy’s 34-game on-base streak ended in Colorado, the slugging left-handed hitter is one of the best players in all of baseball in getting on base. His .379 on-base percentage is 13th in the National League while his .917 OPS in 16th in the NL.
After going 0-3 on Tuesday night, Muncy is due for a base hit and has a prime matchup for it against a young right-handed pitcher. Kelly has never faced the Dodgers, so we have no matchups to go on, but Muncy should be able to deliver at least one base hit on Wednesday.
I’ll even raise it one further. After seeing Kelly for the first time in his first at-bat, Muncy is going to hone in on something out over the plate and send the ball deep into the left-field pavilion for a home run to extend my streak.