Gavin Stone Delivers Shutout Against Mariners

A new week and the same Los Angeles Dodgers feeling as the Boys in Blue prepared themselves for another test, this time, against the Seattle Mariners. Prior to the game, the Dodgers gave a pre-game ceremony to former Dodger player and current Mariner, Justin Turner before the two teams went at each other on a warm Monday night at Chavez Ravine.

The struggle for the most part when it comes to the Dodgers has been the pitching side of things, whether it's strikeout input or keeping scores off the board.

The team has been putting in the hours to make sure they could make it as deep as they have and with Monday's game, starter Gavin Stone made his 23rd start of the year where he showed up and dominated the entire time he was on the mound.

Max Muncy and Tommy Edman were activated before the start of the game. Edman's start comes as his first with the Dodgers organization since being traded from the St. Louis Cardinals. Muncy was activated for the first time since June 22 and he looked like he did not miss a minute playing out there.

Some tough news for Dodgers fans as Austin Barnes suffered a fracture in his big left toe where he also played seven innings while dealing with it. Hunter Feduccia is set to be activated as Barnes will go on the injured list for the foreseeable future.

In seven innings, Stone had an incredible outing, he only allowed two hits, walked two batters, and had ten strikeouts where he didn't allow a single score from the Mariners. It was a career night for him, and there was no doubt about it, a huge push to the morale of the Dodgers.

The three key players on offense were Gavin Lux, Muncy, and Will Smith who scored the only three runs that the Dodgers needed.

Meanwhile, Seattle had to deal with not being able to round the bases as they were held to two hits by Stone. The team's morale was not there to pick up any of the slack they were dealing with.

Following the win for the Dodgers, manager Dave Roberts was asked about the lineup he ran on Monday night and how fans and himself got to finally see the best roster in his eyes that can make a deep run with the postseason.

""You have Tommy hitting ninth and just adding tremendous length … it's just a relentless lineup,” he said via Sarah Wexler of MLB.com. “When you’ve got Max Muncy hitting seventh in the lineup, that's saying something.""

""When you look at one-through-nine guys that can take at-bats, that can slug, that can get a hit, that can get to all fields, that's kind of [how] we put this roster together,” said Roberts. “And finally, we get a chance to see it.”"

Muncy and Edman spoke to the media following the game. They expressed their excitement to be back in the lineup and how this is only the beginning for the LA Dodgers.

""The mechanics feel really good,” said Muncy. “Obviously, the timing is not entirely where I want to be, but that's just something that's going to come with more time out there on the field. There's only so much time you can have doing a rehab assignment.""

""I'm excited to finally be playing in some big league games again,” Edman said prior to the game. “I really haven't been on the injured list very much my whole career up until this year, so it's felt weird not getting to play. So I'm excited and hopefully [will] finish this year out strong.""

The Dodgers will look to repeat this lineup for Tuesday night and extend their winning streak to three as they hope to gap teams like the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres who have a couple of weeks left to make a strong push for a postseason spot.

More Dodgers news and analysis: