Dodgers sweep of Angels shows the gulf between two teams – Los Angeles Times

Highlights from the Dodgers 8-3 win over the Angels on Sunday.

Dodgers reducer Dennis Santana tosses throughout an 8-3 win over the Angels on Sunday.
( Marcio Jose Sanchez/ Associated Press).

” Its been motivating,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts stated of his teams play of late. I believe it wasnt synced up initially in the season, which is reasonable.
Short hops.
David Fletchers fifth-inning single to center extended his striking streak to 15 video games, the longest by an Angels gamer considering that Trout struck in 17 directly in 2017. … Slumping sluggers Albert Pujols and Justin Upton were not in the lineup for a 2nd straight video game, marking the first time in Pujols nine-year Angels career he hasnt began 2 video games in a row when he wasnt sidelined by injury. … The Angels flip-flopped Dylan Bundy and Griffin Canning in the rotation this week to offer Bundy an extra day of rest after tossing 16 innings, including a total video game, in his last two starts.

All were on display Sunday, as Keibert Ruiz, the extremely touted Dodgers capturing possibility, produced a crowning achievement with his first significant league swing, a solo shot to right field in the 3rd inning, making him the seventh player in franchise history to homer in his very first major league plate appearance.
Dustin May, the 22-year-old right-hander with the shock of flaming red hair and sizzling 98-mph fastball, enabled 2 runs and 7 hits in 4 1/3 innings, striking out two and walking none, and relievers Brusdar Graterol, Scott Alexander and Dennis Santana combined to allow one run in 4 2/3 innings.

Max Muncy continued to emerge from an early-season funk with a two-run homer to ideal center in the 3rd, Corey Seager topped a four-run 4th with a three-run shot to right, and Matt Beaty struck a solo shot to right in the sixth, giving the Dodgers a major league-high 43 homers, consisting of 14 in their last 37 innings.
The Dodgers first three-game sweep in Anaheim improved their NL-best record to 16-7. The Angels (7-15) have the third-worst record in the AL and have matched their worst 22-game start in club history, embeded in 1976 and 2012.
” Right now, theyre much better than us, theres no question,” Maddon said. “We need to get much better. They mainly beat us with pitching. They have a good group on the field, but I like our group on the field, too. Well play them once again this year and see where were at the end of the season.”

The Dodgers won the series opener 7-4 on Friday. They won a 6-5, 10-inning game on Saturday, with Muncy striking a game-winning sacrifice fly in the 10th and Kenley Jansen retiring the side in order in the bottom of the inning, starting out Trout taking a look at three straight pitches to end the video game.
The Dodgers, after identifying the Angels a 1-0 lead in the 2nd, breezed Sunday to extend their win streak to five.
Homers by Ruiz and Muncy– his fifth of the season– off Angels starter Julio Teheran gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead in the 3rd. Seager followed Mookie Betts run-scoring single in the fourth by hooking his fifth homer of the season to right off Angels reducer Matt Andriese for a 7-1 lead.
Angels 3rd baseman Anthony Rendon hit his fifth homer in six games, a solo shot to center in the 4th, and Brian Goodwin included a solo shot in the sixth. Muncy, who moved from second base to 3rd in the second inning, helped stop prospective rallies by beginning crisp double plays in the 6th and seventh.

The Dodgers have a remarkable rotation and much better young pitching, a more dominant bullpen, a more powerful lineup– although the Angels lead the American League in crowning achievement and feature three-time AL most valuable gamer Mike Trout– and a much deeper and more gifted farm system.

Three observations on the Angels.
Jo Adell is still looking for his first major league homer, however the novice right fielder made strong contact. producing 4 batted balls with exit velocities in excess of 100 mph, a 106.3-mph groundout to second base, a 111.5-mph single to ideal field, a 115.5-mph single to left v– the 10th-hardest-hit ball of 2020, according to Statcast– and a 101.4-mph fly out to right field.
Adell also flashed his five-tool capacity with a strong throw to second base to nail Matt Beaty, who was attempting to stretch a two-out single to right-center to a double in the second. The throw conserved a run, as Beaty was tagged out prior to Edwin Rios, who jogged house from second due to the fact that of a left-hamstring injury he sustained on a double, crossed the plate.
Manager Joe Maddon stated before the video game Julio Teheran is still “capturing up” after being slowed by the coronavirus in July. The veteran right-hander acquired no ground, quiting four runs and 6 hits, including third-inning homers to Keibert Ruiz and Max Muncy, in 3 1/3 innings, striking out three and walking one. His ERA after 3 starts: 12.38.

New Angels manager Joe Maddon was hardly fazed by a pandemic-shortened 60-game schedule that consisted of six games– one-tenth of the season– versus the seven-time National League West-champion Dodgers, who were coming off a franchise-record 106-win season.
” I actually like that our schedule is considered tough– thats how you get better,” Maddon said prior to the season. “Ive constantly said you have to beat the very best to be the best.”
It was clear after the very first of 2 Freeway Series that the Angels dont determine up to the Dodgers, who completed a three-game sweep with an 8-3 victory on a blistering 93-degree Sunday afternoon in Angel Stadium.
The space between the teams may be as large as the one between Santa Clarita and San Clemente.

3 observations on the Dodgers.
Dustin May showcased a formerly little-used changeup Sunday, successfully blending in the pitch throughout a 41/3-inning, two-run start. In 18 previous MLB looks, the hard-throwing right-hander utilized the changeup just 7 times. But Sunday, he tossed it on 12 celebrations, causing 3 swings and misses and one strikeout.
Corey Seager taped his very first multihit video game since his return from a back injury Thursday, collecting his 5th home run and 13th RBI of the season while raising his batting average to.294, second-best on the team behind Mookie Betts.
Brusdar Graterol got 2 crucial outs in a fifth-inning relief look against the Angels 2 most popular players, getting Mike Trout to line out and causing a ground-ball fielders option against Anthony Rendon to strand the runner he inherited from May.

David Fletchers fifth-inning single to center extended his hitting streak to 15 games, the longest by an Angels player because Trout hit in 17 directly in 2017. … Slumping sluggers Albert Pujols and Justin Upton were not in the lineup for a 2nd straight video game, marking the very first time in Pujols nine-year Angels profession he hasnt started 2 video games in a row when he wasnt sidelined by injury. Pujols, 40, is batting.186 (11 for 59) with a. 594 on-base-plus-slugging portion and three homers in 15 games. Upton, 32, is batting.107 (six for 56) with a. 405 OPS and 2 homers in 16 games. … The Angels flip-flopped Dylan Bundy and Griffin Canning in the rotation this week to offer Bundy an extra day of rest after throwing 16 innings, including a complete video game, in his last 2 starts.