LOS ANGELES, CA — Justin Wrobleski provided the Dodgers with another outstanding performance Tuesday evening as he shut out the Rays across six innings in front of 49,070 fans. The game took all of one hour and fifty-two minutes (1:52), the fastest game in MLB this season.
If we were to combine the commute to and from the ballpark, some fans would have definitely sat in traffic more than actually been in the ballpark for this one.
The quick game was because Wrobleski and Tampa Bay’s ace Drew Rasmussen, each pitching like true Cy Young Award candidates. This was until the top of the sixth inning when Shohei Ohtani unloaded on the first pitch, a 92 mph cutter, sending it 427-feet to straight-away center field to mark 15th home run of the season.
Wrobleski finished with a line of six innings pitched, three hits, no runs, no walks, and five strikeouts. He threw only 67 pitches, 50 for strikes. After he left the game, Will Klein, Kyle Hurt, and Tanner Scott each threw one shutout inning, allowing one walk and no hits for the rest of the ballgame.
“He was attacking all night. That’s who he is,” manager Dave Roberts said of the left-hander. “Just the dependability with Wrob in the sense that you know that he’s going to go after guys. His first pitch is like his last pitch and he’s the epitome of go as hard as you can for as long as you can—until the manager takes the ball from you. Tonight, we asked (for) six innings and he did that and he passed it to the ’pen and they were fantastic.”.
On the visiting side, Rasmussen (6-3, 2.59 ERA) departed with a line of seven innings pitched, six hits, one run, no walks, and seven strikeouts. He threw 102 pitches, 68 for strikes.
Drew Rasmussen (6-3, 2.59 ERA) made one mistake in Tuesday’s matchup vs. the Dodgers in LA and it was against one of the best hitters in the sport: Shohei Ohtani – Image Credit: MLB
In picking up his eighth win against two losses, Wrobleski now owns the best record for a Dodger pitcher this season. He also lowered his ERA to 2.72 as Dodger ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto is 7-4 with a 2.52 ERA.
The win now gives LA a nine-game lead over the Padres in the NL West as we near the halfway mark of the year. And for the Rays, Tampa Bay now drops to three games behind the Yankees in the AL East.
On Wednesday, the Dodgers are scheduled to start Ohtani, who is 6-4, with an ERA of 1.06, in the series finale, which LA has already won, coming out with victories in the first two affairs. The Rays will counter with left-handed starter Shane McClanahan, 6-4, 3.23 ERA.
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