Dodgers End Skid, Win on “Jackie Robinson Day”
Jackie Robinson – a man who is, arguably, the most well-known and influential baseball player in MLB history. A man who suffered ridicule and persecution when he “broke the color barrier” in 1947 by becoming the first African-American to play in the big leagues. A man who became the 1947 MLB “Rookie of the Year.” A man who was both NL MVP and NL Batting Champion in 1949, World Series Champion in 1955 and a six-time All-Star. A man who earned the honor of having his number, 42, “universally” retired by the MLB in 1997 becoming the first pro athlete in any sport to receive that recognition. A man who changed baseball as we know it.
Today, April 15th, Major League Baseball would continue the tradition by having every player on every team wear the number 42. And today Clayton Kershaw and the struggling Dodgers would channel their “inner Jackie” to end their 11-game regular season losing streak to the Diamondbacks as well as avoid being swept by them for the second time this season.
2nd Inning
With one out in the second Yasiel Puig would reach safely after a fielding error by shortstop Nick Ahmed. Austin Barnes and Chase Utley would both draw walks to load the bases. Next up was Kiké Hernández who would hit a sac-fly to score Puig and put the Dodgers up 1-0.
3rd Inning
The Dodgers would break it open in the third that began with back-to-back one-out walks to Corey Seager and Matt Kemp. That would bring Cody Bellinger to the plate who hit a ground ball come-backer to pitcher Zack Godley. Godley was unable to field the ball as it bounced off of his glove and rolled slowly towards first base resulting in an “infield hit” to load the bases. Puig would then come up to bat and would promptly rope a base hit to left-center field scoring Seager and Kemp to increase the lead 3-0. Barnes would draw yet another walk to load the bases and so would Utley to score Bellinger and put the Dodgers ahead 4-0.
4th Inning
Chris Taylor would lead-off the bottom of the fourth with a first pitch solo home run to left field – his team-leading third homer this season.
5th Inning
The Dodgers would not stop there as they increased their lead yet again beginning with a lead-off single by Barnes that would end the day for Godley. Godley, who won his first two games with a 0.64 ERA and 0.643 WHIP, allowed only 8 hits and 1 walk through 14.0 innings; today, however, he would match his career high with 6 walks. Silvino Bracho would come in relief but would immediately issue a double to Utley putting runners on second and third. Three batters later, Taylor would strike again with a two-run double down the left field line to increase the lead 7-0. Taylor would finish the day 2-5 with a run scored and 3 RBI’s.
7th Inning
Paul Goldschmidt would lead off the top of the 7th with a solo shot to cut the deficit 7-1; however, Kershaw would finish the inning without any more damage. He would end the day with 7.0 spectacular innings allowing only 1 run on 2 hits and no walks while striking out 12.
9th Inning
The D-backs attempted to make things interesting in the 9th as Ross Stripling took the mound for the Dodgers looking to close things out. David Peralta would lead off the inning with a double and would be brought home on the very next at-bat by Ketel Marte to make it 7-2; however, a walk to Goldschmidt (who was nearly picked off of first base) would be their last base runner as Stripling got Pollock and Descalso to fly out and Owings to ground out to end the game.
The Dodgers (5-9) were finally able to give Kershaw some run support (as well as his first win) by putting together quality at-bats to finally end their worst losing streak to a single team since the franchise moved to Los Angeles. The Boys in Blue will head south to San Diego to take on the Padres (6-9) in a three-game series beginning tomorrow night at 7:10pm PST.
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