Game 160, 2023

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Dodgers at Giants, 7:15 PM PDT, TV: NBCS BA, SPNLA

RHP Lance Lynn (12-11, 5.83 ERA) takes the mound at Candlestick Oracle Park, where he’ll face the Giants’ RHP Keaton Winn (1-2, 3.89 ERA).

The Giants fired Manager Gabe Kapler today. This might partially explain why:

The Giants held the third and final NL Wild Card spot when they embarked on their final road trip of the season, but their playoff hopes evaporated after they went 2-8 against the Rockies, D-backs and Dodgers. They ended up dropping 28 of their final 34 road games and entered Friday 8-17 in September, meaning they’ll need to sweep the first-place Dodgers to avoid finishing under .500 this year.

“We played our worst baseball when it mattered the most,” Zaidi said.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1951 Don Newcombe becomes the first black pitcher to win twenty games in a season. In a must-win for the Dodgers, the right-hander bests Robin Roberts, also a 20-game-winner, when he blanks the Phillies at Shibe Park, 5-0.
  • 1959 At the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, the Dodgers capture the NL flag with a dramatic 6-5 come-from-behind victory over the Braves, taking the first two games of the three-game playoff necessitated by the teams being tied on the last day of the season. The deciding run comes in the bottom of the 12th inning, after the first two batters make outs, when Gil Hodges walks and scores on singles by Joe Pignatano and Carl Furillo.
  • 1976 Tommy Lasorda is named to succeed Walter Alston as Dodger manager. ‘Smokey’ compiled a 2040-1613 record (.558), during his 23-year tenure with the club, winning seven pennants and four world championships.
  • 1979 Manny Mota sets a major league record with his 146th career pinch hit, a single to right field, in LA’s 6-2 victory over Chicago at Dodger Stadium. The Dominican Republic native surpasses the all-time record set by Smoky Burgess, who collected his last hit as a pinch-hitter in 1967.
  • 2000 Gary Sheffield ties the Dodgers’ franchise single-season home run record when he goes deep off Woody Williams in the team’s 3-0 victory over San Diego at Qualcomm Stadium. The left fielder, with his career best 43rd round tripper, now shares the team mark with Duke Snider, who established the record in 1956 when he played for Brooklyn.

Lineups when available.

28 thoughts on “Game 160, 2023”

  2. One last addendum before I depart for softball in Berkeley: In 1961, I saw Manny Mota play many times as a Tacoma Giant (gnot a Gnat) and had an autographed program. Unfortunately, in cleaning out my mother’s house after her death, I couldn’t find it.

  3. Gnatfans won’t have Kapler to kick around any more, but they’ll still have Zaidi (who, many of them seem to think, is a Dodgers mole).

    Meanwhile, I’ll celebrate the first day of blackout weekend by attending a friend’s slow pitch game – though I’ll check Gameday regularly to see the progress toward win No. 99.

  4. Lots of milestones reached in tonight’s win.

    This is Freeman’s season with two games left: .334/.412/.572/.984 — an LA Dodger record 131 runs and 90 extra-base hits, a franchise record 59 doubles, 29 home runs, 102 RBI, 210 hits and 23 stolen bases.

    Freeman passed Maury Wills (130 in 1962) for the LA Dodger single-season runs record on Friday with his three runs scored.

    J.D. Martinez hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning, extending a 3–2 Dodger lead at the time to 6–2.

    Martinez has eight home runs and 25 RBI in 19 September games. He now has 33 home runs and 103 RBI in 111 games.

    The three-run homer gave Martinez career RBI Nos. 1,000, 1,001 and 1,002.

    Starting pitcher Lance Lynn threw 35 pitches and allowed two runs in the first inning. He threw 52 pitches and allowed no runs over his last five innings. Lynn now has back-to-back starts — each against the Giants — of six innings pitched and two runs allowed. He has a 3.38 ERA (nine earned runs over 24 innings) over his last four starts.

    The Dodger bullpen — Ryan Brasier, Joe Kelly and Brusdar Graterol — turned in three scoreless innings. The Dodger bullpen lowered its MLB-leading second-half ERA to 2.25.

    Brasier lowered his MLB-leading second-half reliever ERA to 0.31. Graterol lowered his second-half ERA to 0.32. He has 25 consecutive scoreless innings.