Tag Archives: Gavin Stone

Apr 13

Game 17, 2024

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Padres at Dodgers, 6:10 PM PDT, TV: San Diego Padres, SPNLA

RHP Matt Waldron (0-1, 3.86 ERA) goes for the Padres and RHP Gavin Stone (0-1, 9.00) ERA pitches for the Dodgers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1939 In a spring training game played in Norfolk, Virginia, Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig, with apparent muscle loss, especially around his shoulders, goes deep twice in a 14-12 exhibition loss against the Dodgers. The second and ninth-inning home runs will be the last round-trippers the ‘Iron Horse’ will ever hit.
  • 1993 Lee Smith passes Jeff Reardon to become the all-time major league saves leader when the Cardinals beat the Dodgers, 9-7. The right-handed reliever tosses a scoreless ninth inning at Chavez Ravine to record his 358th career save.
  • 2009 In the LA home opener, Orlando Hudson completes his cycle with a sixth inning triple down the right-field line in the team’s 11-1 rout of the Giants. The second baseman becomes the first Dodger to hit for the cycle at Dodger Stadium, and the first franchise player to accomplish the feat in a nine-inning game since Gil Hodges did it in 1949.
  • 2012 Aaron Harang, after surrendering a leadoff single to Cameron Maybin to start the game, strikes out the next nine consecutive Padres in L.A.’s 9-8 victory at Dodger Stadium. The 34 year-old right-hander’s performance is one more than Johnny Podres’ franchise mark of 8, but falls one short of the major league record held by Tom Seaver, who fanned 10 straight Friars for the Mets in 1970.
  • 2019 Chris Davis ends his recording-setting streak of consecutive at-bats without a hit with a two-run single in the first inning of the Orioles’ 9-5 victory over the Red Sox at Fenway Park. The Baltimore first baseman’s safety snaps the major league record at 54 straight hitless at-bats by a position player, easily extending the previous mark of 46 set by utilityman Eugenio Vélez, who established the dubious distinction over two seasons while playing with the Giants (0-for-9) and Dodgers (0-for-37), respectively in 2010 and 2011.
  • 2022 In his first start of the season, Clayton Kershaw throws seven perfect innings when the Dodgers beat the Twins at Target Field, 7-0. The 34-year-old southpaw, returning from last year’s elbow surgery, throws 80 pitches, striking out 13 batters during his seven frames of perfection.

Lineups when available.

Apr 07

Game 12, 2024

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Dodgers at Cubs, 11:20 AM PDT, TV: Marquee Sports Network, SPNLA

RHP Gavin Stone (0-0, 5.40 ERA) takes the hill for the Dodgers; he’ll face LHP Shota Imanaga (1-0, 0.00 ERA). Here’s what MLB.com’s Thomas Harrigan had to say about Imanaga’s first start in the big leagues:

Although it came on a chilly day at Wrigley Field against a Rockies lineup that isn’t exactly a juggernaut, Shota Imanaga’s debut was still mighty impressive. The left-hander, who signed a four-year, $53 million deal with the Cubs in the offseason after a stellar career in his native Japan, carried a no-hitter through 5 2/3 innings and finished with nine K’s and no walks over six scoreless frames. Including Spring Training, Imanaga has struck out 34 of the 81 batters he has faced (42%) in a Cubs uniform, which is a great indication that he has the stuff to excel at the Major League level.

Imanaga leaned heavily on his four-seamer during his dominant debut, throwing it 60.9% of the time and holding Colorado hitters hitless with four strikeouts in 13 at-bats ending on the pitch. The southpaw’s splitter, though, was the true star of the show.

Imanaga consistently threw his splitter down and out of the strike zone, but Rox batters had trouble laying off of it. Of the 15 swings they took against Imanaga’s splitter on the day, 12 came up empty, good for an 80% whiff rate. That included the final pitch in a 13-pitch battle with Ryan McMahon. Given how similar Imanaga’s four-seamer and splitter look coming out of his hand, the two pitches could prove to be a devastating combo all year long.

The Dodgers’ Japanese pitcher got some high praise from his own team and the opponents after his outing today too.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1969 After throwing just two pitches to start the season, Don Drysdale finds himself and his team trailing by two runs when Pete Rose and Bobby Tolan hit back-to-back homers. The 32 year-old right-hander settles down, and the Dodgers come back to win the Crosley Field contest, 3-2.
  • 1969 Bill Singer becomes the first major league reliever to officially record a save, a new stat which will be kept starting this season, in the Dodgers’ 3-2 win over Cincinnati in the season-opener at Crosley Field. The ‘Singer Throwing Machine’ does not allow a hit, hurling three scoreless innings en route to saving Don Drysdale’s victory.
  • 1977 Gary Thomasson starts the game by walloping the first pitch in the Dodgers’ opener for a home run off Don Sutton, who had apparently thrown a gopher ball. Unbeknownst to the Giants’ leadoff hitter, the ball was to be taken for a pitch and handed to the home plate umpire to be sent to Cooperstown.
  • 1977 Frank Sinatra keeps his promise to Tommy Lasorda by singing the Star-Spangled Banner on Opening Day at Dodger Stadium. ‘Old Blue Eyes’ had told the team’s new skipper he would perform the National Anthem if his friend ever became the L.A. manager.

  • 2012 Octavio Dotel, playing for his 13th team, breaks a major league record he previously shared with Mike Morgan, Matt Stairs, and Ron Villone. The 39 year-old Tiger reliever, who throws 1.1 scoreless innings against Boston, has also appeared with the Mets, Astros, A’s, Yankees, Royals, Braves, White Sox, Pirates, Dodgers, Rockies, Blue Jays, and Cardinals.

Lineups when available.

Mar 31

Game 6, 2024

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Cardinals at Dodgers, 4:10 PM PDT, TV: ESPN

LHP Steven Matz (0-0, 0.00 ERA) takes the hill for the Cardinals and RHP Gavin Stone (0-0, 0.00 ERA) does so for the Dodgers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1948 At Ebbets Field No. 2, the Dodgers play their first exhibition game at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, which will remain the team’s home for 61 years. Amidst much fanfare, including Governor Millard Caldwell throwing the ceremonial first pitch, Jackie Robinson homers in the first inning as Brooklyn beats its top farm club, the Montreal Royals, 5-4.
  • 2018 Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who goes 3-for-4 in the team’s 3-2 victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field, becomes the first American Leaguer to have multiple extra-base hits in the first three games of the season. In 2015, Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez also accomplished the feat, collecting at least two hits in each of LA’s first three contests when he compiled ten hits his first 14 at-bats of the season.

Lineups when available.

Mar 25

Freeway Series, Game Two, 2024

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Angels at Dodgers, 6:10 PM PDT, TV: KCOP, SPNLA

LHP Reid Detmers (1-0, 3.38 ERA Spring Training) pitches for the visitors and RHP Gavin Stone (3-0, 1.93 ERA Spring Training) does so for the Dodgers.

In the major news of the day, Shohei Ohtani is scheduled to speak to the media regarding his former interpreter’s alleged gambling at 2:45 p.m. PDT. It will be televised live on MLB Network and SPNLA and carried on the radio on AM570 in LA and on the iHeartRadio app. Apparently he’s just going to read a statement and not take any questions, which will undoubtedly anger every working member of the press within miles.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1934 For the third time in six days, track and field Olympian medalist (javelin, hurdles, high jump) Babe Didrikson takes the mound to face a major league team. The Orleans Pelicans’ hurler pitches two scoreless innings against the Indians and lines out in her only at-bat.(Ed. Note: Earlier this week, Didrikson pitched for the A’s against the Dodgers and the Cardinals with the Red Sox as her opponents.-LP)
  • 1945 Tryouts are granted to pitcher Terris McDuffie and first baseman Dave Thomas when a group of blacks appears at the Dodger offices in Brooklyn. The two players will work out at Ebbets Field in front of Branch Rickey on April 7.

Lineups when available.

Mar 24

Freeway Series, Game One, 2024

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Angels at Dodgers, 4:10 PM PDT, TV: Bally Sports West, SPNLA

RHP Griffin Canning (Spring Training 0-1, 2.25 ERA) goes for the Angels and RHP Bobby Miller (Spring Training 0-1, 4.32 ERA) goes for the Dodgers.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1947 During a four-hour hearing with Commissioner Chandler at the Sarasota Terrace Hotel, Dodger manager Leo Durocher admits to playing occasional card games for money with Kirby Higbe. Before Opening Day, Chandler will suspend the Brooklyn skipper for the 1947 season for “association with known gamblers.”
  • 1959 A photo of Pete Whisenant taken before an exhibition game played against the Dodgers in Havana, Cuba, shows the Reds outfielder toting a machine gun. The weapon shown in the posed picture belongs to a rebel from Fidel Castro’s revolutionary army.
  • 1982 When Fernando Valenzuela ends his three-week holdout, the Dodgers automatically renew the southpaw’s contract for a reported $350,000. The National League Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year Award recipient, after earning just $42,500 in his freshman season, still refuses to sign the deal that makes him the highest-paid second-year player in baseball history, having asked for a raise to $850,000.
  • 2006 At Mickey Mantle’s Manhattan restaurant, the U.S. Postal Service unveils the Baseball Sluggers postage stamps, to be issued before the game against the White Sox at Yankee Stadium on July 15. The four featured Hall of Famers all have roots in New York, with Mickey Mantle (Yankees), Mel Ott (Giants), and Roy Campanella (Dodgers) playing their entire careers in the Big Apple, and the fourth, Hank Greenberg, setting schoolboy records at James Monroe High School in the Bronx.

Lineups:

Jan 24

2024 Hot Stove League #5

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The Dodgers added another starting pitcher to their rotation. They have signed LHP James Paxton to a one-year deal for $11 million plus incentive bonuses.

These are the guys they have penciled in as starters: Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Paxton, Bobby Miller, and a bunch of choices including Walker Buehler, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Clayton Kershaw, Gavin Stone, Emmet Sheehan, Ryan Yarbrough and Michael Grove. Buehler will have an innings limit in hopes he’ll be fully capable for the postseason; May and Gonsolin are recovering from injuries and won’t be ready immediately, and Kershaw is both recuperating and still a free agent. Juan Toribo goes over the list in his column at MLB.com.

This would seem to push the Dodgers toward a six-man rotation, at least to start the year. Some of their arms are fragile, and Yamamoto is used to pitching just once a week in Japan.

Sep 11

Game 143, 2023

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Padres at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: Padres: Catch the San Diego Padres now on NEW channels! Tune in on DirecTV (now channel 694-3), AT&T U-Verse (now channel 781), Cox (now Yurview channel 4), and Spectrum (now channel 305). Fans can now watch all Padres games in-market both LIVE and on demand during the 2023 season through an MLB.TV Single Team Padres subscription.

Dodgers: SPNLA

RHP Pedro Avila (1-2, 2.18 ERA) pitches for the visiting Padres and RHP Gavin Stone (1-0, 10.50 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers.

Here’s a free article from the NYT about all the other Dodger babies born this season. Five boys, one girl.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1947 Ralph Branca becomes the youngest pitcher to win twenty games in the National League. The 21-year-old Dodger right-hander, who finishes the season with 21 victories, reaches the plateau in his third attempt when Brooklyn beats the Cardinals at Sportsman’s Park, 4-3.
  • 1959 The Dodgers end Elroy Face’s consecutive win streak at 22 with a 5-4 victory over the Pirates. The reliever, who will end the season with an 18-1 record, is beaten by Chuck Churn, one of only three major league victories in his career.
  • 1966 In his first major league at-bat, John Miller homers off Lee Stange in the second inning of the Yankees’ 4-2 victory over Boston at Fenway Park. The 22 year-old left fielder, whose total of 10 hits in his 32-game career will include just two round-trippers, will become the only player to hit home runs in his first and last major league plate appearance when he goes deep as a pinch-hitter for the Dodgers in his final turn at bat in 1966.
  • 1998 Kevin Malone is named as the Dodgers’ general manager, replacing Tommy Lasorda, who is promoted to Senior Vice President of the team. The “new sheriff in town” tenure in Los Angeles will be marked by the signing of high profile players to huge contracts, including Kevin Brown’s seven-year deal making the right-hander the first $100 million man in baseball.

Lineups when available.

Aug 27

Game 129, 2023

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Dodgers at Red Sox, 10:35 AM PDT, TV: MLBN (out-of-market only), NESN, SPNLA

Reliever LHP Caleb Ferguson (7-3, 2.81 ERA) opens for the Dodgers; he’ll face the Sox’ RHP Tanner Houck (3-7, 5.08 ERA).

Here’s a good story at ESPN about Cody Bellinger’s hitting revival.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1937 Dodger right-hander Fred Frankhouse holds the Reds hitless for 7.2 innings before a heavy downpour ends the Ebbets Field contest. The right-hander’s 5-0 victory will be one of the 31 “no-no’s” erased when MLB redefines a no-hitter in 1991 as a game in which a pitcher throws nine innings or more without giving up a hit.
  • 1951 Dodger right fielder Carl Furillo, in the top of the third inning in the team’s 5-0 victory over Pittsburgh at Ebbets Field, throws out Mel Queen by two feet at first base, after the Pirates pitcher had apparently singled into right field. The ‘Reading Rifle’ will lead the NL in assists for the second consecutive season, with opponents becoming increasingly reluctant to challenge the Brooklyn outfielder’s strong arm.
  • 1952 The Dodgers set the National League mark for consecutive games with a double play when they complete a twin killing in their twenty-third straight contest, a 10-5 loss to Chicago at Wrigley Field. The fifth inning 1-4-3 DP, pitcher Clyde King to second baseman Jackie Robinson to first baseman Gil Hodges, leaves Brooklyn two shy of the major league record.
  • 2005 Jeff Kent becomes the first player to hit 300 homers as a second baseman. The Dodger infielder, who surpassed Ryne Sandberg’s total of 277 last September, is the major league leader at this position, with Joe Gordon holding the American League record with 246 round-trippers.

Lineups when available.

Jul 05

Game 86, 2023

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Pirates at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: ATT SportsNet-PIT, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

RHP Osvaldo Bido (0-1, 4.74 ERA) goes for the Buccos and RHP Bobby Miller (4-1, 4.23 ERA) becomes the third consecutive rookie pitcher to start for the Dodgers.

There was some good news last night:

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1935 The Cuccinellos become the third pair of brothers, following the Waners (2) and Ferrells, and the first on opposing teams to homer in the same game when Al goes deep in the bottom of the ninth in the Giants’ 14-4 loss to Brooklyn at the Polo Grounds. The New York’s third baseman’s sibling, Tony, playing second base for the Dodgers, had homered in the previous inning.
  • 1952 In their final season in Boston, the Braves play in front of the largest home crowd of the season when 13,405 fans watch Brooklyn beat their team for the 12th consecutive time, a 5-3 complete-game victory by Carl Erskine. The most memorable moment of the contest occurs in the second inning when the game is delayed because a small dog has to be escorted off the field by Dodger outfielders Carl Furillo and Duke Snider.
  • 1961 Cardinals first baseman Bill White collects 14 total bases when he hits three home runs and a double. The 27 year-old infielder’s offensive output helps the Redbirds rout the Dodgers at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, 9-1. (Note: White has written a very entertaining autobiography.)
  • 2004 At Dodger Stadium, Diamondback third baseman Chad Tracy’s ninth inning run-scoring single on an 0-2 changeup ends Eric Gagne’s record streak of 84 consecutive saves. The new mark established by the Los Angeles closer is 30 more than the prior mark set by Tom Gordon for the Red Sox in 1999.
  • 2007 At Dodger Stadium, Chipper Jones’ two solo home runs are the difference in the Braves’ 8-6 victory over Los Angeles. With his pair of round-trippers, the team’s third baseman surpasses Dale Murphy for the Atlanta team record of 372 homers.

Today is also the anniversary of the first game Larry Doby played for the Indians, integrating the American League. He ended up with 1,515 hits, only three behind Jackie Robinson. Also on this date in 1953, Robin Roberts pitched his 28th consecutive complete game, shutting out Pittsburgh at Forbes Field, 2-0. Twenty-eight straight complete games! We’ll never see that again!

Lineups when available.

Jul 03

Game 84, 2023

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Pirates at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: ATTSportsNet-PIT, SPNLA

RHP Mitch Keller (9-3, 3.34 ERA) takes the mound for the Pirates and the Dodgers will send an as-yet unnamed pitcher RHP Michael Grove (0-2, 7.54 ERA) to the hill.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1925 Milt Stock sets a National League mark by having his fourth consecutive four-hit game, going 16-for-23 during the span to compile a .696 batting average. The 31 year-old second baseman’s offensive output, which includes three singles and a triple, helps the Robins beat the Giants at Ebbets Field, 6-3.
  • 1949 En route to a 16-0 shutout of the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds, starting pitcher Monte Kennedy hits a grand slam. Another 51 seasons will pass by before another Giants hurler hits a four-run homer when Shawn Estes accomplishes the feat in 2000.
  • 1958 In their 35th home date in L.A., the transplanted Dodgers reach the one million mark in attendance. Last season, the team drew only 1,028,258 fans, playing in Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field.
  • 2013 Yasiel Puig becomes the first player to be named Player of the Month for the first month he plays in the major leagues in the 55-year history of the award. The Dodger outfielder played in 26 games in June, compiling a .436 batting average, with his 44 base hits being the second-most ever by a first-month player, only behind Joe DiMaggio’s total of 48 in 1936.

Lineups when available.