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Dodgers Week 9: On a (Pierogi) roll

MLB: Los Angeles Dodgers at Pittsburgh Pirates Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The Dodgers flexed their might last week, riding a high-octane offense and excellent starting pitching to four wins in five games in Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh.

Sunday concluded a 6-2 road trip for the Dodgers, who own the best record and run differential in the National League, and at 35-18 have a seven-game lead in the National League West, their largest advantage of the season.

Batter of the week

Justin Turner was on fire, hitting .600 (9-for-15) with a double, two walks and even a stolen base. Turner on Sunday was 5-for-5 with. walk, setting career highs for both hits (he had nine games with four hits) and times on base (he reached base five times in six games). Turner started the week hitting .276/.375/.423 and ended it hitting .304/.396/.444 on the season, a 42-point OPS leap in just four games.

Turner gets the nod over an also-deserving Joc Pederson, who hit .500 (8-for-16) while leading the team in RBI (six) and extra-base hits (four), and also walked three times without striking out.

Pitcher of the week

Walker Buehler shut down the Pirates on Friday by allowing one run in six innings. He narrowly beat Rich Hill, who also allowed one run in six innings but to Tampa Bay, and Hill walked one more batter and allowed a home run, while Buehler kept Pittsburgh in the park.

Week 9 results

4-1 record
36 runs scored (7.20 per game)
22 runs allowed (4.40 per game)
.711 pythagorean record

Season to date

35-18 record
285 runs scored (5.38 per game)
206 runs allowed (3.89 per game)
.644 pythagorean record (34-19)

Miscellany

For starters: Dodgers starting pitchers posted another solid week with a 2.76 ERA and 28 strikeouts against only four walks. Kenta Maeda went five innings on Sunday, snapping a 12-game streak with Dodgers starting pitchers lasting at least six innings. It was the longest streak for the franchise since a 12-game stretch from July 31-Aug. 5, 2005.

Men of steal: The Dodgers stole three bases last week and on the season have stolen 19 bases in 23 attempts, the second-best SB rate (82.6%) in the majors. Since Cody Bellinger was caught stealing on Apr. 21, the Dodgers are 13 for 13 in steal attempts.

Out of left field: A grand slam by David Freese highlighted a five-run first inning for the Dodgers on Friday in Pittsburgh, their sixth inning scoring at least five runs this season. It also foiled the Pirates’ plan of using an opener, with the right-handed Michael Feliz retiring only one of his six batters faced. The lefty Matt Beaty singled to open the game, but with left-hander Steven Brault following Feliz on the mound for Pittsburgh, Beaty was replaced in left field by the right-handed Chris Taylor in the bottom of the first. So Beaty’s first major league game in the outfield consisted of one start, one at-bat and zero actual time in left field.

Double trouble: In their win over the Pirates on Saturday the Dodgers tied a Los Angeles franchise record with eight doubles, including one from Hyun-jin Ryu high off the wall in right center field. It was just the second time since moving west the Dodgers hit eight doubles in a game, along with July 2, 1978 against Cincinnati. The club record is nine, done twice in Brooklyn (July 24, 1894 against the Boston Braves, and June 4, 1939 against Philadelphia). The seven different players to hit a double on Saturday tied a franchise record, at least dating back to 1908.

The most painful RBIs: Kiké Hernandez and Austin Barnes were hit by pitches with the bases loaded in consecutive plate appearances on Sunday. It was the first time the Dodgers have had two bases-loaded HBP in a game since at least 1925 (which is how far the Baseball-Reference Play Index goes, for certain individual plays).

Walking the plank: The Dodgers on Sunday completed a season sweep of the Pirates, outscoring Pittsburgh 44-20 in the six games this year. LA has beaten Pittsburgh 10 straight times, and since the start of 2017 is 18-2 against the Pirates.

Transactions

Tuesday: Julio Urias was activated after a week on administrative leave by MLB during investigation of his domestic battery incident. Kyle Garlick was optioned to Triple-A, with the Dodgers going back to their usual 13-pitcher, 12-position player roster.

Friday: Garlick made a quick return for the weekend series in Pittsburgh, temporarily taking the place of reliever Joe Kelly, who was placed on the bereavement list.

Sunday: Kenta Maeda returned from the injured list on his first day eligible, and Garlick was optioned to Oklahoma City.

Game results

Stats

Week 9 batting

Player AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO HBP SH SF PA BA OBP SLG OPS BABIP Player
Player AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO HBP SH SF PA BA OBP SLG OPS BABIP Player
Pederson 16 3 8 2 1 1 6 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 19 0.500 0.579 0.938 1.516 0.467 Pederson
Turner 15 4 9 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 18 0.600 0.611 0.667 1.278 0.563 Turner
Barnes 10 0 3 2 0 0 4 0 0 2 6 1 0 0 13 0.300 0.462 0.500 0.962 0.750 Barnes
Seager 20 5 6 1 0 1 5 1 0 3 2 1 0 0 24 0.300 0.417 0.500 0.917 0.294 Seager
Muncy 23 7 6 3 0 1 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 25 0.261 0.320 0.522 0.842 0.238 Muncy
Bellinger 21 5 5 2 0 1 4 0 0 4 3 0 0 0 25 0.238 0.360 0.476 0.836 0.235 Bellinger
Hernandez 15 4 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 3 1 0 0 19 0.200 0.368 0.200 0.568 0.250 Hernandez
Verdugo 11 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 14 0.182 0.286 0.273 0.558 0.200 Verdugo
Beaty 17 2 3 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 17 0.176 0.176 0.176 0.353 0.200 Beaty
Starters 148 30 45 12 1 4 29 3 0 21 19 3 0 2 174 0.304 0.397 0.480 0.876 0.323 Starters
Freese 7 3 3 1 0 1 4 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 9 0.429 0.556 1.000 1.556 0.500 Freese
Taylor 11 3 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 12 0.364 0.417 0.545 0.962 0.500 Taylor
Martin 7 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 1 0 1 10 0.286 0.400 0.286 0.686 0.333 Martin
Garlick 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 Garlick
Bench 27 6 9 3 0 1 5 0 0 4 8 1 0 1 33 0.333 0.424 0.556 0.980 0.421 Bench
Pitchers 6 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 9 0.167 0.167 0.333 0.500 0.167 Pitchers
Offense 181 36 55 16 1 5 35 3 0 25 27 4 3 3 216 0.304 0.394 0.486 0.881 0.329 Offense

Week 9 pitching

Pitcher G GS W L Sv IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP ERA WHIP FIP Pitcher
Pitcher G GS W L Sv IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP ERA WHIP FIP Pitcher
Buehler 1 1 1 0 6.0 5 1 1 0 1 0 6 0 1.50 1.000 1.70 Buehler
Hill 1 1 0 0 6.0 5 1 1 1 2 0 7 0 1.50 1.167 4.03 Hill
Kershaw 1 1 1 0 6.3 6 2 2 0 1 0 8 0 2.84 1.105 1.15 Kershaw
Ryu 1 1 1 0 6.0 10 2 2 0 0 0 3 0 3.00 1.667 2.20 Ryu
Maeda 1 1 1 0 5.0 5 3 3 2 0 0 4 0 5.40 1.000 6.80 Maeda
Starters 5 5 4 0 0 29.3 31 9 9 3 4 0 28 0 2.76 1.193 3.03 Starters
Alexander 3 0 0 2.3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.857 3.20 Alexander
Garcia 2 0 0 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0.00 0.500 1.20 Garcia
Urias 1 0 0 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0.00 0.500 1.20 Urias
Jansen 1 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00 0.000 1.20 Jansen
Stripling 3 0 0 3.0 5 2 2 0 0 0 1 1 6.00 1.667 3.53 Stripling
Baez 2 0 0 1.0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 9.00 2.000 6.20 Baez
Ferguson 2 0 0 2.0 5 6 6 1 2 0 2 1 27.00 3.500 12.20 Ferguson
Floro 2 0 1 1.3 4 4 4 1 0 0 0 1 27.00 3.000 15.20 Floro
Bullpen 16 0 0 1 0 14.7 19 13 13 2 3 0 8 3 7.98 1.500 5.11 Bullpen
Totals 21 5 4 1 0 44.0 50 22 22 5 7 0 36 3 4.50 1.295 3.72 Totals

Previous weeks in review: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8

The week ahead

The Dodgers run the Gregg Jeffries gauntlet this week, back home to face the Mets and Phillies for seven games.

Week 10 schedule

Mon, May 27 Tue, May 28 Wed, May 29 Thu, May 30 Fri, May 31 Sat, Jun 1 Sun, Jun 2
Mon, May 27 Tue, May 28 Wed, May 29 Thu, May 30 Fri, May 31 Sat, Jun 1 Sun, Jun 2
vs. Mets vs. Mets vs. Mets vs. Mets vs. Phillies vs. Phillies vs. Phillies
5:10 p.m. 7:10 p.m. 7:10 p.m. 7:10 p.m. 7:10 p.m. 7:10 p.m. 1:10 p.m.
Kershaw v. Hill v. Buehler v. Ryu v. Maeda v. Kershaw v. Hill v.
deGrom Matz (L) Syndergaard Vargas (L) Arrieta Eflin Pivetta
SNLA/KTLA/ESPN SNLA/MLBN SNLA SNLA/KTLA SNLA SNLA/KTLA/MLBN SNLA