LOS ANGELES -- At the All-Star break, MLB.com staff voted Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara as the favorite for the 2022 National League Cy Young Award. They picked Corbin Burnes, who started for the Brewers on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, as the runner-up.
Just as the Dodgers did vs. Alcantara on Sunday, they piled on against Burnes, tagging him for seven runs on six hits and two walks in a 10-1 victory. The effort raised the right-hander’s ERA from 2.48 to 2.84.
“Scoring 10 runs in games started by Corbin Burnes and Sandy, it's a little unexpected, even for us,” said Freddie Freeman. “We think we're still going to have a good day, even though we're facing those guys, but 10 runs is a lot. Those guys are really good pitchers.”
The Dodgers came into their stretch of four straight series against the Brewers and Marlins viewing it as something of a test as to how they stack up against top-line pitching talent, going up against Burnes, Eric Lauer and Alcantara twice each. So far, they’ve fared pretty well on that front.
After scoring three runs off Burnes and chasing him with two outs in the sixth inning last Thursday in Milwaukee, they put together an even more emphatic performance against him on Tuesday, starting with Freeman singling home Mookie Betts in the first inning.
In the bottom of the second, Trayce Thompson -- not originally in the starting lineup, but slotted in due to Gavin Lux’s neck injury -- made Burnes pay for an uncharacteristic pair of walks by clobbering a three-run home run.
“He and the hitting guys have really connected,” manager Dave Roberts said when discussing Thompson’s hot hitting in his second stint with the Dodgers. “I think he has no fear of the baseball. I think he's staying on spin a lot better than I recall. … Right now, mechanically, he just looks so comfortable and so confident at the plate.”
The hits kept coming in the fourth, when Thompson and Trea Turner delivered RBI singles to bring an end to Burnes’ night. Freeman added one more earned run to Burnes’ ledger with an RBI base hit off left-hander Brent Suter.
“It’s a good lineup, top to bottom,” said Burnes. “They’re good at-bats. They’re tough outs. They’re doing what they can to get to you as soon as they can, to get you out of the game as soon as they can. One through nine in the lineup, they’re doing that. They don’t have one, two guys who are more aggressive or don’t have quite as productive AB’s. Everyone in that lineup does.”
The Dodgers aced Round 1 vs. Alcantara, as well, scoring six runs on 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings. Round 2 will come this weekend during their four-game series in Miami.
Facing pitchers like Burnes and Alcantara reminded the Dodgers somewhat of the postseason, where they’re going to be seeing a lot of good pitchers -- and, depending on how long a series goes, where they’re likely to see a team’s ace twice in the span of five days.
“You're going to be facing those kind of guys every night,” said Freeman. “Those are the guys we're going to be facing if you're going to want a World Series. So, good test for us.”
Of course, there’s also Lauer, against whom the Dodgers have not done as well. He threw seven innings of two-run ball against the Dodgers in Milwaukee on Aug. 17, then hurled five scoreless innings on Monday. In 11 career starts against Los Angeles, he has a 2.37 ERA.
But pitchers like Lauer have proven to be something of a rarity for the Dodgers, who have shown time and time again that their combination of talent and game-planning ability makes them capable of handling the league’s top starters.
“To get to Alcantara and to get like Corbin like we did tonight shows how good we can be against the game’s best,” said Roberts.