David Roberts has seen his share of good runs during his nine years as Dodgers manager: You don’t win 100 games or more in five of the last seven seasons without crying a little.
But he’s not sure he’s ever seen the Dodgers string together as many complete games, combining starting pitchers, relievers, offense and defense, as they have during this current streak, which continued with Wednesday’s 3-1 win over the Miami Marlins. before 40,702 in Chávez. Ravine.
Teoscar Hernandez drove in all three of the Dodgers’ runs with an RBI single in the first inning and a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth, and Gavin Stone He pitched seven magnificent innings, allowing one run on six hits, striking out four and walking none, as the Dodgers won for the 14th time in 16 games and extended their winning streak to seven.
In 16 games since April 21, the Dodgers have outscored their opponents 100-31 and hit .286 with 28 home runs, 35 doubles, 73 walks and just 99 strikeouts. Their pitchers have combined for a 1.74 ERA, allowing 28 earned runs and 12 home runs in 145 innings.
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The Dodgers began the day with 23 defensive runs saved, according to Fangraphs, the team’s third-best total in the league, and Wednesday’s error-free game ended with second baseman Miguel Rojas charging a slow roller from Jesús Sánchez and making a quick off-balance and precise. throw to first for the final out.
The Dodgers’ starters have made 11 quality starts and allowed 23 earned runs in 94⅓ innings across 16 games, good for a 2.19 ERA.
The bullpen, after Michael Grove’s scoreless eighth inning and Daniel Hudson’s scoreless ninth, has allowed five earned runs in 50⅔ innings over the stretch, giving it a 0.89 ERA.. And that despite losing closer Evan Phillips and men preparers Joe Kelly and Ryan Brasier due to injuries during the stretch.
“We’ve played great baseball over the years, but this (stretch), in every facet of the game, is as good as I’ve seen,” Roberts said. “It’s hard to top what we’ve done.”
The Dodgers didn’t hit the ball Wednesday, collecting six hits against Marlins left-handed pitcher Ryan Weathers and two relievers in the 1 hour, 55-minute matinee, the Dodgers’ shortest game since 2003. But when you pitch like good as they did (the Dodgers didn’t walk any batters), it’s not necessary.
“I think you win with pitching and defense, like everyone says, and our offense is the best in the league,” Rojas said. “The starters have been doing their part and the bullpen has been incredible. Everything is falling into place for us right now and we have to keep riding the wave.”
The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Freddie Freeman reached on a two-out single to right center field, took second on a balk, third on a wild pitch and scored on Hernandez’s RBI. . simple to the right.
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The Marlins tied the score in the fourth when Bryan De La Cruz hit an 88 mph changeup from Stone, one of the right-hander’s few errors, into the left-field bullpen for a leadoff home run.
Jake Burger and Josh Bell followed with singles, but Stone escaped the trouble of two on and no outs by catching a hard jumper from Sanchez to his left and firing to shortstop Mookie Betts to start a double play and striking out Nick Gordon with a 96. -mph fastball.
“First of all, I didn’t know I had it; I was a little surprised that it was in my glove,” Stone said of the double play ball. “But Mookie is a super athlete, so if he threw it anywhere around the bag, he’d probably turn it over.”
Stone, leaning heavily on a fastball that averaged 94.2 mph and a changeup of 86.5 mph, blanked the Marlins with two hits in his final three innings. He is 3-1 with a 3.55 ERA on the season and 3-0 with a 2.10 ERA in his last five starts in which he allowed seven earned runs on 22 hits, struck out 16 and walked nine in 30 innings.
“He’s been very consistent with his command, his conviction, his confidence, and as a result he’s gone deeper in games,” Roberts said. “He looks like an experienced major league pitcher. He has that baby face, but from his demeanor on the mound, he is a bulldog.”
Stone, 25, struggled in four major league stints in 2023, going 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA, but found his footing — and a dash of swagger — with a long run in the rotation to start 2024 .
“Yeah, I would probably say confidence and conviction in all my pitches,” Stone said, when asked about the difference between 2023 and 2024. “I feel like that’s the key not just for me, but for all pitchers. If you pitch with conviction, good things will most likely happen.”
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Hernandez put Stone in line for the win in the sixth when he followed another two-out hit by Freeman, this one a double into the right-field corner, with a towering two-run homer to left-center field in a full-count turnaround. for a 3-1 lead.
“I was thinking about the change, yes,” Hernandez said of his battle against Weathers. “He got me out in my second at-bat with a changeup, threw me a changeup on a 3-and-1 count, and I knew he was going to get back to it.”
The Dodgers signed Hernández to a one-year, $23.5 million contract last winter in hopes that the 31-year-old slugger would add power and length to a lineup led by Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freeman and Will Smith. Hernandez is batting .265 with an .843 on-base plus slugging percentage, 10 home runs and a team-leading 29 RBI.
“It’s exceeded all my expectations,” Roberts said. “In that situation, they were trying to get around him and be careful, he got to 3-2 and (Weathers) left that changeup up a little bit and gave it a good swing. Give him a lot of credit. But he likes being in that place. He is not afraid to run.”
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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.