Dodgers finish regular season slate with a win

In what seems like the blink of an eye, the Los Angeles Dodgers regular season schedule has come to an end. They finished their schedule with 106 wins, passing up the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers for the franchise record.

The game immediately started off well for LA when Giants starting pitcher Dereck Rodriguez struggled right off the bat. With only one out in the first inning, Rodriguez walked Max Muncy and allowed base hits to A.J. Pollock and Cody Bellinger to load the bases up for Corey Seager. Seager does what he does best and doubled to clear the bases, quickly putting the Dodgers up 3-0.

The first inning didn’t end there. Will Smith’s turn was next and with one on, he smashed his 15th home run of the season to lift the Dodgers’ lead to five runs.

The Dodgers offense wasn’t able to put up any runs for the next five innings, despite getting seven runners on base.

It wasn’t until the seventh when things started cooking again. Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod was on the mound and loaded the base full of blue after a base hit, walk and hit by pitch. Rookie Gavin Lux came up to the plate and drew a walk after a full count to give the Dodgers yet another insurance run.

The final rally of the game came in the following inning. The Giants pitching staff loaded the bases (which was a common theme in this game) ahead of Austin Barnes’ at-bat. Barnes, who isn’t exactly the hero of the team, came through with a base hit to bring in another pair of runs. Will Smith, who hit a homer earlier in the afternoon, followed with an RBI base hit of his own.

After all this action, the Dodgers had nine runs on the board and it didn’t look like the Giants were much of a threat. That’s thanks to the Dodgers pitching.

Rich Hill was the last starting pitcher of the regular season and though his appearance started off a bit rough around the edges, he settled down well. The first inning was a 28-pitch battle, including an 11-pitch at-bat as well as a base hit and a walk. It wasn’t all too bad, though, because he recorded two strikeouts and got the last batter out on three pitches.

The next two innings were efficient, with Hill able to get out after nine and 11 pitches respectively. This outing was great preparation for the postseason, showing he is back to full form.

There were lots of pitchers coming out of the bullpen for LA, totaling seven relief pitchers on Sunday afternoon.

Dustin May, the first after Rich Hill, pitched a scoreless inning and earned the win for his contribution.

Clayton Kershaw also made a relief outing to practice for what’s likely to come in the postseason. He threw an 18-pitch inning and even faced Giants veteran Madison Bumgarner, who could have possibly made his last appearance in an SF uniform. The head-to-head was a nice moment, with Kershaw and Smith giving MadBum and the San Francisco crowd some time to take in the moment.

Joe Kelly made his first appearance since Sept. 18, after dealing with an undisclosed illness. He retired two batters after six pitches and was replaced by Adam Kolarek to finish off the inning. Dylan Floro came in to toss another 1-2-3 inning for LA in the seventh.

Julio Urias came in to pitch the eighth inning, but it wasn’t as simple as he’d hoped. Urias allowed the first to batters aboard, but he was able to get a handle on things and quickly get out of the jam with a pop fly and a double play.

Ross Stripling pitched the final regular season inning for the Dodgers, allowing one base hit, but getting out otherwise untouched.

Game 162 was a breeze for the Dodgers, defeating the San Francisco Giants, 9-0. LA was able to showcase both their offensive and pitching power in this contest before kicking off the postseason.

Sunday particulars

WP: Dustin May (2-3) 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

LP: Dereck Rodriguez (6-11), 1 ²⁄₃ IP, 5 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 HR

Home runs: Will Smith (15)

Box score

Up next

The Dodgers will host the winner of the Nationals-Brewers Wild Card game on Thursday, Oct. 3 at Dodger Stadium. It will be their seventh-straight year in the postseason. 11 more wins!