The Dodgers are tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for the best record in baseball heading into the final three weeks of the regular season, and it hasn’t guaranteed them much, not with San Diego and Arizona breathing down their necks in the National League West.
“We’re feeling the Padres and Diamondbacks right behind us, but there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of pressure — I feel like it’s going to help us get to the playoffs and perform well in the playoffs,” shortstop Miguel Rojas said. “But we want to secure one of the top two spots [in the league], so we can’t really let our foot off the gas pedal right now.”
The Dodgers did ease up on the throttle Saturday night, but only after they shot out of the gates like a Top Fuel dragster, scoring six first-inning runs en route to a 7-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians in front of a crowd of 48,690 in Chavez Ravine.
With San Diego losing to San Francisco and Arizona losing to Houston, the Dodgers (85-57) pushed their division lead to five games over the Padres and 6½ games over the Diamondbacks with 20 games to play.
“Anytime we can put together a big inning like that,” right fielder Mookie Betts said, “it’s going to be a good recipe to win.”
Shohei Ohtani made the first and last outs of the first inning, but in between, the Dodgers pounded Guardians starter Gavin Williams and reliever Pedro Avila for six runs and four hits, a rally that was set up by three straight one-out walks issued by Williams.
Tommy Edman sliced a two-run, ground-rule double to left, and a Gavin Lux sacrifice fly to left made it 3-0. Rojas slapped an RBI single down the right-field line for a 4-0 lead, and Andy Pages, filling in for the injured Teoscar Hernández, greeted Avila with a two-run homer that traveled 432 feet to center for a 6-0 lead.
The early outburst eased the burden on a pitching staff that has been so ravaged by rotation injuries that the Dodgers used seven relievers — Ryan Brasier, Michael Grove, Justin Wrobleski, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, Michael Kopech and Brent Honeywell — to cover nine innings Saturday night.
“I don’t want to put it solely on the offense, because the guys we’re running out there still have to do their jobs on the pitching side,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But I do know that the offense is aware of what we’ve been going through as a staff. They can’t take nights off, at-bats off. When we need to add on or fight to get back into a game to give it to guys in the bullpen, we need to do that.”
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