Hernández walks it off, Dodgers avoid sweep
Teoscar Hernández's two-run, ninth-inning double gave Los Angeles a 3-2 walk-off win over St. Louis, avoiding a sweep and keeping the Dodgers 9.5 games clear in the NL West at 83-57.
Hernández's ninth-inning double ends the sweep
Teoscar Hernández's two-run double in the ninth capped a walk-off win in the 9th over the St. Louis Cardinals on September 3, sending the Dodgers to a 3-2 finish and avoiding a series sweep. The hit snapped a stretch in which Los Angeles had gone 1-for-26 with runners in scoring position, per Katie Woo of The Athletic, after the Dodgers had dropped the first two games of the set, 8-13 on September 1 and 6-8 on September 2.
Cardinals8-13Cardinals6-8Cardinals3-2The win pushed Los Angeles to 83-57 and kept the club 9.5 games clear of second-place Arizona in the NL West, with the Diamondbacks now facing an elimination number of 13.
Recent News
Shohei Ohtani is considered day-to-day as he manages a pair of injuries, including a sore biceps, Sonja Chen of MLB.com reported. Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes said Thursday that 'nothing has indicated that it should be an IL at this point,' according to Katie Woo of The Athletic.
Gomes also addressed the possibility of an extended absence, telling Woo, 'I think not having Shohei in the lineup for 10 days or whatever it would be is something that we would prefer not to do,' adding that the idea 'really hasn't even been something that we've discussed.'
Upcoming
The Dodgers host the Nationals tonight, with Blake Snell (2-1, 2.42 ERA) on the mound against Washington's Jackson Kent (1-2, 5.59 ERA). Snell struck out 10 over five innings in a no-decision at Detroit on August 29, allowing just three hits and one earned run, while Kent worked seven innings and allowed one earned run on three hits in a win over Miami on August 28.
Los Angeles is favored heading into the opener, with the market reading a middling total for the scoring. Snell's strikeout stuff against a Nationals lineup that hasn't seen him, paired with Kent's control issues in his last outing, four walks against three hits, points toward a night that could go either way on total runs even with the Dodgers the clear favorite to win.