*Photo from AP News*
It was a close battle in Chavez Ravine on Friday night. Mookie Betts drove in two runs, Michael Busch drove in the winning run, and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied to defeat the Houston Astros with a 3-2 win on Friday in Los Angeles.
The Dodgers have now won 3 straight games, starting the series with the Astros on the right foot. There wasn't a lot of production on the offensive side, but it was enough to slow down the Astros. Rookie Emmet Sheehan, making his second career start, got his first big league win on the mound.
Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said that "With a guy like Emmet, you learn some information with some adversity and for him to give up a couple homers, but for him to not run from it was pretty telling.. We’ve built our success on pitching and defense. To minimize walks, to strike guys out, to catch the baseball, when we do that, the offense should be good enough for us to win."
Betts and the Dodgers got a lead right away to open the series. Betts cranked a leadoff solo home run to left field in the first inning, putting the Dodgers ahead 1-0 before the entire crowd took their seats. One inning later, Betts padded the Dodgers lead to 2-0 on a sac fly, flying out to center field and scoring James Outman.
It stayed 2-0 Dodgers until the 4th inning. Mauricio Dubon got the Astros on the board with a solo home run, making it a 2-1 game. Kyle Tucker followed that up with a solo home run of his own, tying the score 2-2. In the bottom of the 4th, Busch put the Dodgers ahead for good, scoring Outman on an RBI double to left field.
Sheehan made his second career start and got his first win to move to 1-0 in his career. Sheehan allowed 3 hits and walked two, allowing two runs in 6 innings. Michael Grove pitched two scoreless innings after Sheehan left, with Brusdar Graterol getting the save in the 9th inning, his 4th.
Asked about his latest start, Sheehan said that "I felt great. I felt like my stuff was definitely a little bit better, getting comfortable with a big league ball. And yeah, I gave us a chance to win, which is what I was trying to do."
JP France was the starter for the Astros, taking the loss while being charged with 3 runs on 8 hits and two walks in 6 innings, striking out 4 hitters. Ryne Stanek and Hector Neris were used out of the bullpen, with each throwing a scoreless inning.
Astros manager Dusty Baker said of France's start that "If he could just stay away from the home run ball, you know? But the home run he gave up was to Mookie Betts, a good hitter. He pitched well, he pitched well enough to win the game. When you handle big Freddie Freeman and Martinez and those guys pretty well, usually, you have a lot better chance to win the game."
Up next, the series continues on Saturday night. The Dodgers go for the series win with Bobby Miller on the mound, while Ronel Blanco starts for the Astros.
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