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by Rowan Kavner
The last time Alex Wood pitched in a playoff game, he tossed two scoreless innings in relief and ended the night sprinting out of the Dodger dugout toward Julio Urías to celebrate a World Series-clinching Game 6 win against the Rays. Monday night at Dodger Stadium looked much different.
Wood’s rival jersey flapped in the gusting winds on a blustery, chilly October evening that did no favors to the Dodger bats, which cooled off after Saturday’s nine-run output. On another night, Chris Taylor’s 372-foot lineout might have reached the seats. In other conditions, Gavin Lux’s 370-foot drive to left-center field with two outs in the ninth inning might have tied the game.
But on this night, both hard-hit balls landed in the gloves of Giants, who handed the Dodgers their second shutout loss in three NLDS games to push them to the brink of elimination. The only run scored in the 1–0 Dodger defeat came on a solo homer from Evan Longoria on an 0–2 fastball from Max Scherzer in the fifth inning.
“You get to the postseason, you can always lose by one pitch,” Scherzer said. “That comes into play. Tonight, I lost on one pitch.”
Other than that, Scherzer was flawless.
He believed he figured out a lower-half adjustment after his Wild Card start against the Cardinals, during which he walked three batters, struck out four and allowed one run in 4 1/3 innings. The mechanical fix paid off Monday as he struck out 10 batters and allowed only three hits, a walk and a run in seven innings.
“The wind was really pushing me toward home plate,” Scherzer said. “It was pretty strong tonight. Once I was able to get through the second inning, that’s when I really felt like I found some rhythm and was able to start executing pitches.”
Scherzer finished the night with 21 swings and misses and another 24 called strikes, getting at least four whiffs apiece on his fastball, cutter, slider and changeup. After two of the first three batters reached to start the game, he retired 11 of the next 12 batters he faced. Through that point, he racked up eight strikeouts through four scoreless innings.
“He threw a heck of a ballgame,” said manager Dave Roberts.
But his competitor was just as spotless early on.
The only two hits Wood allowed in his 4 2/3 scoreless innings came off the bat of Albert Pujols, who was making his first playoff start since 2014. The future Hall of Famer didn’t want to focus on the conditions after the Dodgers’ offensive shortcomings.
“That’s something that you cannot control,” Pujols said. “It’s part of the game. You can’t think it was cold. You can’t think of the wind. Hey, it is what it is, you know? So, you can’t blame it on the wind because we lost the game tonight. It’s just part of the game.”
As the innings passed, no support arrived for Scherzer. The Giants’ unrelenting defense and the suboptimal conditions made life tougher.
There were five balls put in play on the night with an expected batting average of .800 or better. Two belonged to the Giants, who got a home run from Longoria and a single from Buster Posey. Three belonged to the Dodgers, who got lineouts from Taylor and Mookie Betts and a game-ending flyout from Lux, who entered off the bench to face flame-throwing Giants reliever Camilo Doval in the ninth inning.
Of the 218 instances this regular season of a ball hit with a 22-degree launch angle at least 106 mph off the bat — as Lux’s was in the ninth inning — eight were outs, five were singles and the rest were extra-base hits.
“My stomach pretty much sank when (Lux) hit it,” Longoria said with incredulity, in disbelief the ball didn’t leave the yard.
Longoria, Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford and Roberts all said they thought Lux’s ball was destined for the seats. Roberts thought the same about Taylor’s deep drive in the sixth.
Of the 138 balls hit with a 23-degree launch angle at least 107 mph off the bat — as Taylor’s was — four were outs, two were singles and the rest were home runs or doubles. It wasn’t to be for Taylor or the Dodgers.
As for Betts’ liner, his hard-hit ball traveled 100 mph off the bat but couldn’t get over the outstretched arm of Crawford, whose leaping catch prevented another potential game-tying run in the seventh inning.
“The Mookie at-bat, the line-out, the two balls that I thought were home runs, I thought we took some good at-bats,” Roberts said. “And we just didn’t get rewarded.”
Monday was the first time the Dodgers lost a Scherzer start in his 13 trips to the mound in a Los Angeles uniform. The Dodgers also snapped their streak of 16 straight wins at home, which included a franchise record 15 consecutive victories at Dodger Stadium to close out the regular season.
Now, an all-hands-on-deck elimination Game 4 is ahead.
The Dodgers haven’t divulged who will make that start yet against the Giants’ Anthony DeSclafani, but Walker Buehler is an option on short rest and Tony Gonsolin is prepared to help in any role asked.
“Everything is on the table,” Roberts said.
Dodgers can’t back Max Scherzer in Game 3 blustery 1–0 defeat was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.