Game 81, 2023

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Dodgers at Royals, 5:10 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports KC, SPNLA

RHP Bo Miller (3-1, 4.13 ERA) pitches for the visiting Dodgers and RHP Alec Marsh (0-0, 0.00 ERA) makes his big league debut for the Royals.

Marsh is ranked #11 in the Royals’ farm system by Baseball America and #14 by MLB Pipeline. A former second-round pick out of Arizona State in 2019, the 25-year-old right-hander had a 5.32 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 47 1⁄3 innings for Double-A Northwest Arkansas before being promoted and posting a 2.40 ERA in three starts for Omaha. He has the ability to miss bats with 156 strikeouts in 124 1/3 innings last year, but walks can be an issue and he still allowed a lot of hard hit contact last year with a 6.88 ERA. Marsh throws in the mid-90s with a four-seamer and a two-seamer with sink, with a curveball, slider, and change up.

LHP reliever Aroldis Chapman’s name has been bandied about as a possible trade deadline pickup by the Dodgers. Well, he’s just been traded by the Royals to the Rangers, so scratch that possibility.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1962 Sandy Koufax becomes the first Dodger southpaw to throw a no-hitter since Nap Rucker accomplished the feat in 1908 when he keeps the expansion Mets hitless in the team’s 5-0 victory in Los Angeles. The 26 year-old left-hander, en route to fanning 13, strikes out the first three batters he faces – Richie Ashburn, Rod Kanehl, and Felix Mantilla, on nine pitches to start the game with an immaculate inning.
  • 1973 With an 8-7 extra-inning loss to L.A. at Riverfront Stadium, the Reds finish the day 11 games behind the first-place Dodgers. Led by the eventual National League MVP Pete Rose, who will win the batting title with a .338 average, Cincinnati will go on a 60-26 tear to capture the Western Division by 3.5 games.
  • 1985 Pedro Guerrero ties a major league record by hitting 15 home runs in June when he goes deep off Bruce Sutter in his final at bat of the month. The eighth inning two-run round-tripper will prove to be the difference in the Dodgers’ 4-3 victory over Atlanta at Chavez Ravine.
  • 1997 Rangers’ hurler Bobby Witt becomes the first American League pitcher to hit a home run in a regular-season game in nearly 25 years. His round-tripper off Ismael Valdes helps Texas to beat the Dodgers in interleague action, 3-2.
  • 2013 “When it comes to compassion, the Rays are batting .000.” – DELCIANNA WINDERS, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement at the PETA Foundation.

    Miguel Cabrera, joining Luis Gonzalez of the Dodgers, becomes only the second player to hit a homer into the 10,000-gallon touch tank at Tropicana Field. The Tigers slugger’s round-tripper draws the attention of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who, in a written letter to the Rays’ organization, requests the team to allow the 30 or more captive cownose rays be returned to their natural habitat because the animals are subject to harassment, loud crowds, and at the risk of being injured by baseballs.

Lineups when available.

78 thoughts on “Game 81, 2023”

  6. That was Smith’s first three-bagger this season and the sixth of his career.

  7. In NYC, the Mutts scored the go-ahead run when a teenager wearing a Gnats jersey interfered with a ball bouncing toward the stands. Umpires ruled Nimmo would’ve scored, and Gnats lost their challenge.

  8. In Cincy tonight, the Pads blew leads in both the 10th and the 11th (losing on a walk-off dinger).

  24. Although all other things being equal, the HBP would have put the runner in scoring position anyway, the Dodgers are allowing 1.23 stolen bases per game, the most in the majors, The Chisox are next at 1.00.

    • Something that must be addressed. The new rules are abysmal, but that’s just part of it.

      Maury would’ve stolen 200 with these rules.

  29. Entering tonight, the Rockies had allowed 55 runs in their last 5 games, including 25 vs. the Angels last Saturday. Yet they won 2 of those 5 games.

  31. Peralta and Heyward have come around nicely. Martinez has been a huge surprise, at least to me.

    • I think everybody expected Martínez to be pretty good, but not quite this good. Also, he replaced JT, a sentimental favorite whom everybody expected back.

  35. Marsh will always remember the first batter he faced in his major league career.

    • Jon Miller, a broadcaster for the Giants, pronounces it correctly; most do not.

        • The Giants are well served by him and his mates. I also appreciated Hank Greenwald going back a few years, and going back many more, Lindsey Nelson with the Giants, and before that with the Mets at their beginning.

          • Greenwald was outstanding, with a great sense of humor. So was Lon Simmons.

            The Gnats’ current TV crew of Krukow and Kuiper are total homer hacks.

  46. Bob Hendley: Thanks for noting yesterday that my criticism of Max Muncy clearly spurred him back into positive action in our rout of the Rockies. I seem to have a magic touch. LOL. So, today I will note that Austin Barnes is hitting .101, which is the lowest average in MLB of any player with 60, 70 or 80 or more at bats. Although Barnes isn’t in the starting lineup today, I hope this reverse jinx works the next time he plays.