Recap: Frias And Wacha Go Toe-To-Toe, Grandal Hits Go-Ahead Home Run
Yasmani Grandal was activated from the seven-day concussion disabled list and Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly made a big change in the lineup by dropping Jimmy Rollins from second to eighth. What impact Grandal’s addition and moving around the order would have needed to wait longer than expected as first pitch was delayed two hours and 20 minutes due to rain.
Michael Wacha painted the outside corner to strike out Joc Pederson for the first out in the game. Justin Turner then battled back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk, but it was wasted as Wacha struck out the side by getting Adrian Gonzalez to chase and Howie Kendrick to swing and miss.
Kolten Wong reached on a routine grounder that Kendrick inexplicably bobbled, allowing the Cardinals’ second baseman to reach on the error. Matt Carpenter singled to put two on with no outs, and both runners advanced on Matt Holliday’s grounder to first base.
Carlos Frias traded an out for a run as Jhonny Peralta grounded to Turner and Randal Grichuk also bounced out. Wacha had an easy second inning by getting Andre Ethier to fly out, and Grandal and Scott Van Slyke both to groundout. That extended the Dodgers’ road scoreless inning streak to 39.
With heavy rain again falling, Jon Jay lined a one-out single past a diving Turner and he attempted to take two extra bases after Van Slyke slipped in the outfield. However, Jay was thrown out at third and Mark Reynolds grounded out to end the inning.
Rollins’ first at-bat in the eighth spot since 2004 resulted in him rolling a grounder over to Reynolds. Wacha picked up his fourth strikeout of the game by catching Frias looking and kept the Dodgers scoreless by getting Pederson to fly out.
Frias sat the Cardinals down in order for the first time in the bottom of the third to keep the Dodgers within a run. Wacha struck out the first two batters faced in the fourth and tossed another scoreless inning by getting Ethier to ground out after Kendrick drew a walk.
Without scoring a run the Dodgers tied the franchise record of 41 consecutive scoreless innings on the road, set in 1908.
CONTINUE READING: Dodgers Emphatically Break Up Michael Wacha’s No-Hitter