As a lot because it pained Kyle Snyder to see Tyler Glasnow traded from Tampa Bay to the Dodgers final December, the Rays pitching coach predicted the transfer would profit the 6-foot-8 right-hander from Santa Clarita.
“I genuinely think his best days are in front of him,” Snyder stated in February. “He’s healthy. The injury that surfaced in 2019 was ultimately taken care of [with Tommy John surgery] in 2021. I would expect him to have his best years in the near-term and be as good a starter as there is in the National League, for certain.”
The new Dodgers ace has made his outdated coach look prophetic, Glasnow delivering his third straight dominant begin — this one a seven-inning, two-run, five-hit, 10-strikeout, one-walk effort — in an 11-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves in entrance of 44,474 at Dodger Stadium on Saturday evening.
Max Muncy offered many of the energy in a 16-hit assault along with his first profession three-homer sport — a two-run shot in the second inning and solo photographs in the seventh and eighth innings — and the primary by a Dodgers participant since Trayce Thompson hit three homers in opposition to the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 1, 2023.
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Glasnow’s third 10-whiff sport in eight begins pushed the Dodgers towards their tenth win in 12 video games, a stretch in which their beginning pitchers have given up solely 16 earned runs over 68⅔ innings for a 2.10 ERA.
“It’s fun to watch, it really is,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “You see the energy on the bench, the intensity on the field, and in the batter’s box, you see the focus. Then to put all that with a lot of talent, it’s winning baseball.”
Glasnow improved to 7-1 with a 2.70 ERA on the season and has given up solely two earned runs and 14 hits in 21 innings, putting out 29 and strolling 4, in his final three begins — wins over the New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays and Braves. He threw 61 of his 96 pitches for strikes and induced 11 swinging strikes and 12 referred to as strikes.
“He continues to pick us up and be that top-end guy we expect him to be,” Roberts stated. “For him to attack the zone and be efficient and get through that seventh inning was huge. He was on the attack all night long against a very good-hitting ballclub.”
Glasnow retired the primary 9 batters — three by strikeout — in the primary three innings, dotting a knee-high, 98-mph fastball on the within nook to whiff Travis d’Arnaud seeking to finish the second and dropping an 85-mph curve on the within nook to whiff Jarred Kelenic seeking to finish the third.
Glasnow gave up his second run in the seventh when d’Arnaud led off with a double, took third on a groundout and scored on Orlando Arcia’s groundout.
“Honestly, it was probably after the fourth inning or so that I felt pretty good,” stated Glasnow, who leads the key leagues in strikeouts (63) and innings (50). “The velocity and stuff was there when I wanted it to be later in the at-bats. And as the game kept going, I just kept feeling better and better.”
The offense offered Glasnow loads of cushion, with Muncy hitting a two-run homer off Braves starter Bryce Elder 412 toes to heart subject for a 2-0 lead in the second and Shohei Ohtani hitting a solo homer to proper — his eighth of the season to go Roberts for the franchise lead in homers by a Japanese-born participant — for a 3-0 lead in the third.
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Andy Pages sparked a four-run fourth with a leadoff homer to left-center, giving the rookie outfielder 4 homers in 16 video games since his mid-April promotion to the massive leagues and extending his hitting streak to 10 video games.
The Dodgers continued to bat round in the fourth, Ohtani slapping an opposite-field RBI single to left for a 5-1 lead and RBI singles by Freddie Freeman and Will Smith pushing the result in 7-1.
Muncy sparked a three-run seventh with a 404-foot leadoff homer to proper subject off left-hander Tyler Matzek, and he despatched his eighth homer of the season 371 toes to left-center off right-hander Jackson Stephens in the eighth, giving him eight homers on the season.
“It was a really cool moment for me, first time I’ve ever done that,” Muncy stated of his three-homer sport. “I’ve felt good at the plate the last couple weeks. I know the results aren’t always there, but I feel like I’ve put together some decent at-bats. Sometimes you get tough pitches. Tonight I was able to get the barrel to the ball a little bit better.”
Muncy’s third homer barely cleared the wall, however Roberts thought the opposite-field shot was telling for the left-handed-hitting slugger.
“We haven’t seen that backside home run in a long time,” stated Roberts, whose Dodgers have outscored opponents 78-24 in the final 12 video games. “When you can go the other way, you’re spinning the baseball the right way, and it carries out of the ballpark versus a swing that’s cutting it. So his swing is in a really good spot. … I think he’s just getting back to being a better hitter and not just a one-dimensional slugger.”
Roberts stated reliever Blake Treinen, whose return from shoulder surgical procedure was delayed by an early March line drive that fractured a number of of the veteran right-hander’s ribs, in all probability will likely be activated for Sunday’s sequence finale in opposition to the Braves.
Treinen, who sat out many of the 2022 and 2023 seasons due to shoulder accidents, accomplished a five-game minor league rehabilitation stint with scoreless innings for triple-A Oklahoma City on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
He went 6-5 with a 1.99 ERA in 72 video games of his final full season in 2021, putting out 85 and strolling 25 in 72 ⅓ innings as nearer Kenley Jansen’s setup man.
Most relievers can be eased right into a higher-leverage position after sitting out a lot time, however Roberts stated he received’t hesitate utilizing Treinen, 35, to carry slender leads or preserve a rating tied in the later innings.
“I think for me … I don’t want to just kind of leave it in a situation where we’ve got to ease him in,” Roberts stated. “I believe a softer touchdown can be good, but when the sport requires a leverage scenario, I’ve acquired no downside going to him.”
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This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Times.