Game 5, 2020

Dodgers at Astros, 6:10 PM PDT, TV: ATT SportsNet-SW, FS1, SPNLA

The Dodgers’ RHP Walker Buehler makes his first start of the season. Also making his first start of the year is the Astros’ LHP Framber Valdez, who’s in his second full season in the big leagues.

This will be the first meeting between the two teams since the Astros’ sign-stealing methods of 2017 were revealed in the off-season.

A number of Astros players and coaches apologized when spring camps opened in February, but many, including Dodgers center fielder and reigning National League MVP Award winner Cody Bellinger, were critical of the team’s response.

[snip]

Many of the core players [from the 2017 World Series] on both sides remain the same, including Bellinger, Corey Seager, Justin Turner and Kenley Jansen for the Dodgers, and José Altuve, Carlos Correa, George Springer and Alex Bregman for the Astros.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1991 Expos right-hander Dennis Martinez pitches a perfect game, defeating Los Angeles 2-0 at Dodger Stadium. Ron Hassey becomes the first backstop to ever catch two perfect games, as he also was behind the plate on May 15, 1981 when Indian hurler Len Barker faced 27 batters, beating the Blue Jays, 3-0.
  • 2017 Alex Wood won his twelfth game against just one loss, going seven innings while giving up eight hits and four runs to the Giants. The Dodgers came from behind with four runs in the seventh and won 6-4.

Lineup when available.

152 thoughts on “Game 5, 2020

  1. Oh my God, Kelly walked off making the BEST “oh boo-hoo” faces at their hitters.

  2. Dodgers win! (Belated as I was saying goodnight to my son when it ended.)

  3. I recall when Blake Treinen was basically the only free agent the Dodgers has signed in the off season. I was pretty pumped about that addition all by itself.

  4. First really hard ball Ive seen Mookie hit this year. Had a real crack too.

  5. AJ having a great night. He must be so relieved his baby daughter is home from the hospital.

  6. The ball hit Taylor. So Seager singles with the bases loaded and two outs and we don’t get a run.

  7. Funny that when Joe and Orel were talking about the helicopter at Dodger Stadium – I could hear one flying above my neighbourhood.

  8. Let’s see what Astro pitchers are going to do. Not a good time to be in each others faces.

  9. I think we are experiencing the next to the last week of the baseball season.

    • I expect that there will be more positive cases, but not at the scale of the Fish, so to speak. Theirs were the first positives since the season began and offer a warning to the other organizations and players the need for discipline and following protocol.

      • Rumor was that a bunch of the Fish went to a strip club, and I might suspect that lap dances constitute risky behavior. Whether or not that’s true, Florida is the country’s worst hotspot.

  10. Pollock is looking pretty good. Nothing hit really hard but making good contact. Maybe he will wind up being the lead off hitter with Mookie moving to the #2 spot.

  11. The Dodgers are reminding me of a staircase. They go up and down but don’t go anywhere.

  12. Looks like 90% of Marlins season ticket holders have bought cardboard cutouts behind home plate.

  13. Here we go again with Taylor, Hernandez, and Pollock in the lineup together. I ain’t saying they aren’t pretty…

  14. The 2-2 start is a replica of 2018. They split a 4 game series with SF despite LA out scoring them by 12 runs overall.

  15. From Cliff Corcoran at SI.com: Besides Verlander, the

    Astros are also without 2019 Rookie of the Year Yordan Álvarez, veteran righty reliever Joe Smith, swing man Brad Peacock, and compelling young right-hander José Urquidy, among others. Peacock has a sore shoulder. Smith has, unofficially, opted out of the season. The other two weren’t cleared for baseball activities until Friday and will need a few weeks to be ready for the season. The Astros haven’t given a reason for their delay, leaving us all to assume it was COVID-19-related. Meanwhile, righty set-up man Ryan Pressly is in the same sore-elbowed limbo as Devenski. Neither is on the IL, but both may be unavailable in this series, reducing the Astros bullpen to Roberto Osuna, Joe Biagini, and seven rookies.