In a division race that has grown tighter than ever looked possible earlier in this year, the Dodgers managed to hold serve this weekend.
Just barely.
With a 3-2 defeat of the Oakland Athletics on Sunday, the Dodgers stayed 4 ½ games ahead of the San Diego Padres and five games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West, finally holding their ground in what was their first road series win since late June.
“I’m a little more in tune with it,” manager Dave Roberts said of the division standings, where the Dodgers’ once-nine-game lead has been trimmed in half. “But still the focus is on us just playing better baseball.”
Finally, the Dodgers did this weekend.
After starting this trip with a series loss to the Houston Astros and a two-game losing sweep against the Padres in San Diego, the Dodgers bounced back from a Friday night loss to the last-place A’s by following up Saturday’s 10-0 rout with what on Sunday was a narrow rubber-match win.
Both teams scored two runs in the first inning, with Kiké Hernández’s two-run double being erased by Brent Rooker’s two-run homer.
A third-inning RBI single from Cavan Biggio proved to be the only difference the rest of the game.
Dodgers rookie starter River Ryan was just good enough in his third career start, working around five hits and three walks to limit his damage to only Rooker’s two-run homer.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth, Ryan was replaced by former closer Evan Phillips, who shook off his recent struggles by striking out Rooker on a front-door, knee-buckling sweeper to extinguish the threat.
That was the start of a perfect progression of relief pitching for the Dodgers the rest of the day.
Blake Treinen tossed a scoreless sixth inning, despite center fielder Kevin Kiermaier losing a ball in the sun for a double.
Alex Vesia worked a 1-2-3 seventh, striking out two batters while flashing 92-93 mph fastballs (his velocity had dropped in his previous couple outings).
Roberts faced a trickier decision in the eighth inning, electing to use his best remaining reliever, Daniel Hudson, to tackle the heart of the A’s order.
That left the ninth inning to left-hander Anthony Banda, a minor-league trade acquisition earlier this season who — after a scoreless ninth inning Sunday — now has a 2.16 ERA in 31 outings this year.