CHAVEZ RAVINE — Tonight was Will Smith‘s birthday. It was also his bobblehead night. So, it was only fitting that “America’s Catcher” delivers in the clutch. And did he ever. His eighth inning two-run homer flipped the game on its head and led the Dodgers to a 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Hell ya!

Glasnow Solid in Start

For a good long while, it looked like Tyler Glasnow would be a hard-luck loser in the final game of the series with the Diamondbacks. He pitched well, but the D-backs managed to scratch across a couple of runs early to put the Dodgers in an 0-2 hole. In the first, the Diamondbacks turned a Corbin Carrol infield hit into a run on a two-strike RBI single from Pavin Smith. Then, in the third, a leadoff double, an infield out, and a sacrifice fly scored another.

Still, other than those two paper cuts, Tyler Glasnow kept the Dodgers in the game. He made it through six innings, and gave up only those two runs. His line for the night: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. No decision, but a solid outing. The game went into the later innings with the Dodgers still within striking distance.

Rodriguez shuts down Dodgers

Team Venezuela’s pitching star from the WBC, Eduardo Rodriguez, had the Dodgers in knots in this one. The bats were quiet for the first five innings of the ballgame, and they only scored once Rodriguez had exited the game. In the bottom of the sixth, the Dodgers managed an unearned run when Kyle Tucker led off with a groundball to Carlos Santana at first, but the usually reliable Santana fumbled the ball, and Tucker beat it out for a hit. After a stolen base put Tucker at second with two outs, Freddie Freeman came up. After going hitless in the first two games, Fab Five Freddie came through in a big way. He ripped an opposite field double down the third base line to score the Dodgers’ first run of the game.

Late Night Heroics

Great pitching from Will Klein and Alex Vesia got the game to the bottom of the eighth with the Dodgers trailing by a single run. It was definite bloop-and-a-blast territory. Mookie Betts started the rally with a two-out, four-pitch walk from reliever Juan Murillo to put the tying run on board. None of the pitches were particularly competitive, so Murillo was probably interested in throwing strikes.

He threw one too many. Will Smith dug in, and got in a quick 0-2 hole. Then, a couple of balls evened the count. And then… KABOOM! A two-run shot to put the Dodgers up 3-2.

Edwin Diaz went 1-2-3 in the ninth to complete the sweep. Yessir!

Next Up: The Guardians

A rare day off on Sunday. Then, the Dodgers come back to Dodger Stadium to face the Cleveland Guardians. Lots of intriguing pitching on the docket for this series. It’s all Japan, all the time in this series. Roki Sasaki on Monday, Shohei Ohtani on Tuesday, and back around to Yoshinobu Yamamoto for Wednesday to finish the home stand. So grab your takoyaki and a cold Asahi Super Dry and join us for all three. See you there!

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