- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 393,309
- Reaction score
- 43
You must be registered for see images attach
Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow delivers against the Atlanta Braves during the second inning of the Dodgers' 6-1 win Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Kevork Djansezian / Associated Press)
On Thursday and Friday night at Dodger Stadium, a common refrain echoed from the home plate escalators as the crowd was filing out.
“One-hundred-sixty-two and 0!” one fan shouted Thursday, while administering two-handed high-fives to passers-by.
“One-hundred-sixty-two and 0!” another yelled Friday, soliciting a chorus of cheers back in response.
In a 162-game baseball season, such perfection is virtually unattainable. But for now, Dodgers fans can keep on dreaming.
Because six games in, their team has been, well, perfect.
Read more:Shower ‘mishap’ sidelines Freddie Freeman; Dodgers ‘interested’ in torpedo bats
In an 6-1 win over the Atlanta Braves on Monday, the Dodgers continued their unbeaten start to this year’s World Series title defense — going wire-to-wire in a game dominated by starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow, who threw five scoreless innings with eight strikeouts; and a Dodgers lineup that, despite missing Freddie Freeman after he slipped in the shower this weekend and aggravated his surgically repaired right ankle, struck for four early runs and never looked back.
Making his first start of 2025, and his first outing overall since sustaining a season-ending elbow injury last August, Glasnow set the tone from the start.
He struck out the first two batters he faced, snapping off a nasty curveball to Michael Harris II before blowing a 98 mph fastball by Austin Riley. He worked around a temporary lapse of command in the second, stranding a pair of leadoff walks without further stress. And he didn’t give up his first hit until the fifth inning, flashing the same overpowering arsenal that had him on track to be the Dodgers’ postseason ace last year before elbow tendinitis sidelined him for all of October.
Glasnow probably could have kept going after the fifth, having thrown just 79 pitches.
But by then, the team was already leading 5-0, giving manager Dave Roberts a chance to ride a rested bullpen coming off of Sunday’s off-day.
Teoscar Hernández opened the scoring for the Dodgers with a two-run home run in the first, giving him a National League-leading eight RBIs already on the young season.
You must be registered for see images attach
Teoscar Hernández hits a two-run home run against Atlanta Braves in the first inning Monday. (Kevork Djansezian / Associated Press)
Michael Conforto helped double the lead in the third, smashing an RBI double off the wall two at-bats before Tommy Edman lifted a near-grand slam to the warning track in center for a sacrifice fly.
Will Smith, off to a blistering start with a team-best .467 batting average, tacked on an RBI single in the fifth.
And Kiké Hernández — who replaced Freeman at first base in his first game since the team’s season-opening Tokyo trip, having missed last weekend’s series against Detroit while recovering from a stomach illness — ripped a solo home run to left in the sixth for superfluous insurance.
The Dodgers’ only blemish came on a Harris home run off Tanner Scott in the eighth. That marked the third-straight outing the team’s $72 million offseason signing has allowed a run. It was also the first time the Braves, who are off to an 0-5 start after being swept by the San Diego Padres to open the season, scored a run in 29 innings.
Read more:'You want your chance to win one.' New Dodgers feel World Series hunger during celebrations
The Dodgers have already made some notable history. Though their opening five-game win streak was hardly flawless, requiring them to come from behind in four of their victories, they nonetheless achieved 30 runs, 20-plus walks (21), 10-plus home runs (12) and 55 strikeouts (59) without committing an error; something no team had ever done over any five game stretch in major league history.
Now, they have more all-time marks in their sights, trying to match the franchise’s best-ever start to a season of 10-0 set by the 1955 World Series championship team in Brooklyn.
Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Continue reading...
