Dodgers Week 25: Maximum Puig

For the third straight weekend the Dodgers captured a series against a team ahead of them in the standings, which does wonders for improving one’s position. This time it was the Cardinals who suffered, with the Dodgers taking three of four games in St. Louis.

After a pair of losses to a bad Reds team to open the week, the Dodgers offense rebounded in a big way, scoring 37 runs in a four-game winning streak, including a 17-run outburst on Saturday against the Cardinals.

The week featured a pair of signature performances, with Walker Buehler dominating with eight scoreless innings on Friday and Yasiel Puig smashing three home runs on Saturday.

The surge vaulted the Dodgers briefly back into first place in the National League West, but a Sunday night loss pushed them back to where they started the week, a half-game behind the Rockies, who come to Los Angeles for three games beginning Wednesday night.

Batter of the week

Yasiel Puig turned on the power, hitting two home runs Friday and three more on Saturday against the Cardinals, just the ninth Dodger with consecutive two-homer games. Puig was 9-for-21 (.429) for the week with a .500 on-base percentage. His power surge earned a pair of smooches from hitting coach Turner Ward.

Pitcher of the week

Walker Buehler was magnificent on Friday in St. Louis, setting career bests with eight innings (scoreless) and nine strikeouts (for the third time in his last five starts).

Week 25 results

4-3 record
44 runs scored (6.29 per game)
30 runs allowed (4.29 per game)
.668 pythagorean record

Season to date

82-68 record
719 runs scored (4.79 per game)
573 runs allowed (3.82 per game)
.602 pythagorean record (90-60)

Miscellany

Envious: Yasiel Puig had a fantastic two days in St. Louis, hitting two home runs on Friday night, then three more on Saturday afternoon, raising his slugging percentage on the season from .459 to .504 in just over 20 hours. Puig is the second Dodger to hit five home runs in a two-game span, joining Shawn Green, who did so on May 23-24, 2002.

It feels good: 20-20-20(-20-20-20) has done it again, with Yasiel Puig’s power surge on Friday and Saturday in St. Louis, he joined Max Muncy, Yasmani Grandal, Cody Bellinger, Joc Pederson and Kiké Hernandez, tying 2017’s franchise record for most players with 20 or more home runs.

Sixers: Yasiel Puig in his three-homer game drove in seven runs, and Cody Bellinger in the same game homered and singled twice, driving home six runs of his own. It was just the second time in at least the last 111 seasons that two Dodgers drive in six or more in the same game, joining Gil Hodges (8 RBI) and Billy Cox (6) on June 12, 1949 against Cincinnati.

Welcome back: Fifteen months after undergoing left anterior capsule surgery on his left shoulder, Julio Urias was back on a major league mound. He pitched the final inning of Saturday’s blowout win in St. Louis, retiring all three hitters he faced, 483 days after his last major league appearance. The 22-year-old Urias is still the youngest Dodger.

4th time a charm: Walker Buehler had the best start of his young career on Friday in St. Louis, shutting out the Cardinals for eight innings. His last batter faced in the eighth inning was National League home run and OPS+ leader Matt Carpenter. Buehler struck Carpenter out to end the inning, and on his penultimate pitch of the night clocked in with a 98.6 mph fastball. It was the first time that Buehler has faced a batter for a fourth time in an MLB game, and the 22nd such plate appearance against a Dodgers pitcher in 2018. Those opposing batters are 4-for-20 with a walk and five strikeouts.

Anticipation: David Freese opened the scoring on Thursday with a two-run triple in the first inning of the first game of a four-game weekend series against the Cardinals, just a few minutes after he received a warm ovation from the St. Louis crowd who will love him forever for his 2011 World Series heorics. Freese fouled off nine balls before hitting the triple on his 14th pitch of the at-bat. Freese matched the Dodgers’ longest plate appearance of the year, along with Matt Kemp and his 14-pitch walk on July 4 against Pittsburgh.

Transactions

Monday: Julio Urias was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City. In addition to Urias getting back to the majors within 15 months of his shoulder surgery, Urias getting called up Monday was four days shy of him reaching 20 days on optional assignment. That means he will not exhaust a minor league option this season and will have one remaining heading into 2019.

There are 36 players on the active roster, with two more likely additions coming this week in the form of relievers John Axford and Tony Cingrani.

Game results

• Monday: Reds 10, Dodgers 6
• Tuesday: Reds 3, Dodgers 1
• Wednesday: Dodgers 8, Reds 1
• Thursday: Dodgers 9, Cardinals 7
• Friday: Dodgers 3, Cardinals 0
• Saturday: Dodgers 17, Cardinals 4
• Sunday: Cardinals 5, Dodgers 0

The week ahead

The Dodgers run the John Vander Wal gauntlet next week, finishing off their regular season home schedule with three games against the first-place Rockies and three against the last-place Padres.

Previous weeks in review: Mar. 29-Apr. 1 | Apr. 2-8 | Apr. 9-15 | Apr. 16-22 | Apr. 23-29 | Apr. 30-May 6 | May 7-13 | May 14-20 | May 21-27 | May 28-Jun 3 | Jun 4-10 | June 11-17 | June 18-24 | June 25-July 1 | July 2-8 | July 9-15 | July 16-22 | July 23-29 | July 30-Aug. 5 | Aug. 6-12 | Aug. 13-19 | Aug. 20-26 | Aug. 27-Sep. 2 | Sept. 3-9

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