LOS ANGELES — The way the Dodgers were playing in the days before the All-Star break, it looked like they might never win another game. The way they are playing since coming back from the break, it looks like they might not lose a game any time soon.
They made it five consecutive wins since the All-Star break on Tuesday night, getting two-run doubles from Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani in a 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
The Dodgers have dominated their ancient rivals this season – and for awhile. They have won eight of 11 matchups so far this season and 14 of the past 18 against the Giants.
The biggest difference since the break has been the starting pitching. In tatters before the break, the Dodgers have patched the rotation with rookies – four of the five starting pitchers in this streak have been rookies (Gavin Stone, Justin Wrobleski, River Ryan and Landon Knack).
Those five starters have allowed just five earned runs in 24⅔ innings during the winning streak (three by the lone veteran, since-DFA’d James Paxton).
It was Knack’s turn to take the ball Tuesday and he gave the Dodgers five innings, allowing just two hits. One of them was a solo home run by Tyler Fitzgerald. The Giants shortstop has homered in five consecutive games, the longest streak by a Giant since Barry Bonds hit home runs in eight consecutive games during the 2004 season.
The Dodgers’ offense did some of its best work against Giants starter Jordan Hicks by doing nothing. Hicks walked five, hit one and threw two wild pitches in an erratic 3⅔ innings.
The Dodgers had just three hits off Hicks, but two of them were the two-run doubles by Lux (in the first inning) and Ohtani (in the fourth).
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Lux was 2 for 4 in the game and is in the midst of his best run of the season. He is 11 for his past 26 with three multi-hit games in his past four games and five extra-base hits in that time (three doubles, two home runs).
Brent Honeywell Jr. is having a pretty good run lately as well. Since he was claimed off waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates the weekend before the All-Star break, Honeywell has pitched seven scoreless innings for the Dodgers – including two following Knack against the Giants on Tuesday – and retired 19 of the 22 batters he has faced.
Blake Treinen followed Honeywell with a scoreless inning of his own and the Dodgers added another run in the bottom of the eighth on a two-out RBI single by Ohtani.
They took comfort from that added cushion as Alex Vesia struggled to close it out. He walked the first two batters he faced in the ninth and gave up an RBI single to Fitzgerald. Vesia retired two before Evan Phillips came in and waked the bases loaded before getting the final out.
More to come on this story.
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