NLDS Game 2 at Nationals Park rained out
Listen to this articleLast week Dodgers manager Dave Roberts let it be known which pitchers would start the first three games of the NLDS series: Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Kenta Maeda. What he and the league didn’t plan on was a rain out for game two. It has now been postponed until Sunday.
On Friday the Los Angeles bullpen once again came through for the team, holding the Washington National’s scoreless from the sixth inning to the end. The Dodgers won, 4-3.
People questioned why the Nationals started right-hander Max Scherzer, who gave up four runs in three innings, but he then pitched three shutout innings and the Nationals bullpen shut down the Dodgers bats after that. If there was a pitching duel in game one, it was between the bullpens.
In game two, with Hill getting the start for Los Angeles and Tanner Roark taking the mound for Washington, fans could see a replay of game one. Both teams can put some runs on the board early.
The trend this postseason has been to push the starters to throw so many pitches in the early innings they can’t go seven or more innings. On Friday Kershaw threw 101 pitches, with seven strikeouts in five innings. Scherzer threw 91 pitches, with five strikeouts in six innings. They both pitched okay for a postseason game, but Kershaw got the win and Scherzer took the loss. Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen was credited with the save, throwing for the final five outs.
Both teams have players who can and will extend at-bats. Pitch counts will again be higher than we saw in the regular season. Which starter has the best stuff in those first three or four innings will once again be the first key to the game and then it will fall to the bullpens to hold the line.
In the eighth inning of Friday’s game Nationals’ manager Dusty Baker ran out of position players to send to the plate and into the field. Both teams were substituting in those last innings, the Dodgers primarily from their pen. Joe Blanton relieved Kershaw, Grant Dalton followed, then Pedro Baez and finally Kenley Jansen.
Both teams have rookies of great note: Trea Turner of the Nationals, who has played in 73 games and has a batting average of .342 with 13 homeruns and 40 RBI. And then there is the odds on favorite for N.L. Rookie of the Year: Corey Seager who has played in 157 games for the Dodgers, working up a .308 batting average with 26 homeruns and 72 RBI in the regular season. He got the scoring started with a solo shot off Scherzer in the first inning — 429 feet into center.
Since he was called up last year in September our reporter Claudia Gestro has had the opportunity to interview Corey Seager — and his brother Kyle, who plays for the Seattle Mariners — several times. Below are three interviews with Corey Seager.
Game time tomorrow is at 10:08 a.m. PT, if there isn’t another rain delay. Earlier today Clayton Kershaw had a pitching session in the rain.
Photos and videos by Claudia Gestro
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