by Rowan Kavner
Starting pitching served as the stabilizing force through the ups and downs of a turbulent last few weeks for the Dodgers. It was the constant through tumultuous times. That remained the case Saturday with Trevor Bauer on the mound on a night the Dodgers lost another star player to injury.
The win was never in doubt as Bauer and the Dodgers’ two-hit the Marlins to earn a fourth straight victory, but a lot took place in the 7–0 win. During the game, the Dodgers acquired Yoshi Tsutsugo from the Rays. Marlins hitting coach Eric Duncan was ejected in the second inning for arguing balls and strikes. Dodger outfielder Matt Beaty was tossed two innings later for the same reason. The next departure would be more long-lasting.
With the Dodgers leading 2–0 in the fifth inning, a pitch from the Marlins’ Ross Detwiler ran inside on Corey Seager and hit him in the right hand. Seager immediately left the game, and the World Series MVP was still in pain afterward.
Considering the swelling and the level of pain Seager was in, manager Dave Roberts knew the Dodgers were likely looking at an IL situation. Soon after, the Dodgers announced that tests revealed a fracture in Seager’s right hand.
“Obviously, you don’t want to lose any player for an extended period of time,” Roberts said. “As far as continuing to move forward, we have to. And we did tonight, and a lot of good things came from tonight.”
Run support hadn’t been in Bauer’s favor in any of his last three starts. He allowed two earned runs or fewer in each, yet was 0–2 during that time as the Dodgers scored a combined five runs across the three games.
Saturday looked like it might go similarly. By the time Bauer racked up 10 strikeouts through four scoreless innings, neither team had scored a run. But this week’s Dodger offense looks different than weeks past.
Chris Taylor walked with the bases loaded in the fourth inning to start the scoring, and a Gavin Lux groundout brought in a second run during the inning. The Dodgers added two more runs after Seager went down in the fifth on an RBI single from Max Muncy, who snapped his homer streak at three games but stayed hot with three hits, and an RBI groundout from Taylor.
Bauer, who struck out each of the first five batters he faced to start the night, was at 103 pitches through six scoreless innings. It was the eighth time in nine starts as a Dodger that he gave the club at least six innings. He would head back out for a seventh inning, putting up another scoreless frame and finishing the night at 113 pitches.
“I felt great,” Bauer said. “I was trying to hide from Doc so he would send me back out there. My pregame prediction was 12 punchouts, so I was a little bit frustrated I couldn’t get two more.”
Bauer has a good grasp for how he’ll perform based on his metrics and how his body is feeling heading into an outing. Two starts ago, his body hadn’t recovered well during the week and he didn’t feel great heading into his start in Chicago. In his last start in Anaheim, despite striking out nine batters in a quality outing, he was under the weather fighting a bug.
But his body recovered well Saturday, and the results showed. He worked his full arsenal, even adding a handful of two-seamers to the mix.
“I think Statcast isn’t used to me throwing two-seams this year,” Bauer said. “I didn’t throw a whole lot of them last year either in a short season. Over the course of 162 games, you need to have different weapons. Tonight’s kind of an example of that.”
Saturday was the sixth time in nine starts this year that he struck out at least nine batters. Despite not equaling the strikeout total he hoped for, his 10 strikeouts matched a season high.
In eight games against the Marlins since the start of the 2019 season, Dodger starting pitchers have struck out at least 10 batters five times. Catcher Will Smith said Bauer, the latest to perform the feat, knows exactly what he wants to do every time out on the mound.
“He just competes,” Smith said. “He’s not scared of anybody. He’s not scared of any situation.”
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