Redemption Time for Tanner Scott
Last season when Scott came into a game, Dodger fans held their breath. Their supposed closer had a disastrous season. Signed to a four-year contract, he was not performing like a star reliever. He did manage to log 23 saves on the year. But it was the 10 blown saves that the…
Last season when Scott came into a game, Dodger fans held their breath. Their supposed closer had a disastrous season. Signed to a four-year contract, he was not performing like a star reliever. He did manage to log 23 saves on the year. But it was the 10 blown saves that the fans talked about.
One disaster after another. He was 1-4 with a 4.74 ERA, a full two runs higher than 2024 when he was with the Padres. After giving up 1 homer in 24, he was tagged for 11 in 25. His K to BB ratio was 3-1 which isn’t bad. It was just a bad year. He was left off of the roster for the Wild Card and was removed from the roster after game 3 of the LDS when he had a lower body abscess procedure.
If you read this blog every day, you know that the posters on here were leery of Scott being able to recapture his form from 24. Who would blame them? He was literally the gas that stoked the fire in several games.
It is easy to see that the Dodgers going out and signing a legitimate lock-down closer, Edwin Diaz, lit a fire under Scott. He came into camp knowing that the closers job belonged to Diaz. Did he complain? No, he refined his mechanics, just took the ball and proceeded to focus on getting better.
So far, the results have all been positive. He has walked just 3 batters in 23.2 innings and struck out 28. He has given up just 3 runs, and his ERA is 1.14. He is looking more and more like the pitcher he was for the Marlins and Padres in 24. Last night he recorded his 5th save.
He could not have timed his resurgence at a better time. With Diaz on the IL, it has been closer by committee. Clearly, Tanner is the Chairman of the committee. Diaz saved 4 before he was sidelined. Vesia 2, Klein, Hurt and Treinen are the other pitchers with saves. The bullpen has credit for 11 of the Dodgers 37 wins. They are responsible for 7 of the teams 20 losses.
Scott did not show this kind of form when he was with the Orioles. In five seasons with the Birds, he had just 1 save. He came into his own in Miami, refined his game in San Diego, lost it in LA and has seemingly got it back. Let us hope he can continue his upward trend. For the first time this season, Scott has a bad inning, and it looks like it might be his first blown save. I still have faith in him.
Big Hits from the Boys on the Farm
OKC Comets 9 – Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Houston) 1
OKC took a 7-0 lead into the bottom of the 4th inning.
- 1st inning – RF Jack Suwinski solo HR (13). – 1-0
- 3rd inning – 2B Austin Gauthier singled, CF Zach Ehrhard drew a BB, DH James Tibbs III 3-run HR (16). 4-0
- 4th inning – SS Noah Miller walked, C Eliézer Alfonzo walked, 1B Seby Zavala 3-run HR (2). 7-0
30 year old LHSP Charlie Barnes’ first three innings were scoreless with just a double in the first inning. But in the 4th, Barnes allowed a one out double and a two out RBI single.
In the 5th, LF Tyler Fitzgerald and scored on a 2-out Miller double (7).
Barnes retired the side in order in the 5th, and left with an 8-1 lead.
OKC plated one more in the 6th. Gauthier walked and stole 2nd. With 2 outs, JTIII had an RBI single for his 4th RBI of the game.
LHRP Garrett McDaniels, RHRP Griff McGarry, and LHRP Antoine Kelly pitched the final 4 innings without giving up a run. They allowed 2 hits, 2 BB, with 6 K.
- James Tibbs III – 2-4, 1 BB, 1 run, 4 RBI, HR (16)
- Noah Miller – 2-3, 1 BB, 1 run, 1 RBI, double (7)
- Seby Zavala – 2-4, 1 run, 3 RBI, HR (2)
- Jack Suwinski – 1-5, 1 run, 1 RBI, HR (13)
Tulsa Drillers 11 – NW Arkansas Naturals (KC) 7
Tulsa went into the bottom of the 8th on the losing end of a 7-4 score. When the inning was over, Tulsa had an 11-7 lead going into the 9th.
In the 2nd inning, RHSP Patrick Copen walked the leadoff hitter who went to 3rd on a single, and scored on a DP.
In the bottom of the 3rd, RF Josue De Paula doubled (17) and scored on a 2-out RBI single from LF Zyhir Hope.
Copen allowed solo runs in the 4th and 5th inning. In the 4th, a single, BB, sac bunt, and sac fly gave the Naturals a 3-1 lead. In the 5th, a single and RBI double gave NWA a 3-1 lead.
In the bottom of the 5th, JDP hit a 1-out double followed by a BB to CF Mike Sirota. SS Elijah Hainline also walked to load the bases. Hope hit a sac fly and C Griffin Lockwood-Powell hit a 2-run double and a 4-3 lead.
Copen retired the side in order in the 6th. In the 7th he walked the leadoff hitter, and then gave up a run scoring double to tie the score. LHRP Evan Shaw came in to relieve Copen and struck out the next two batters to get out of the 7th.
In the 8th, LHRP Maddux Bruns struck out the side. Oh yeah, he also walked 2 and gave up a 3-run HR.
In the bottom of the 8th, GLP had a 1-out single, followed by walks to 3B Kyle Nevin and DH Chris Newell to load the bases. Bases loaded singles by 2B Jake Gelof and JDP, and a Mike Sirota BB scored 3 to tie the score. That brought up Hainline who slugged a grand slam (8) for the winning margin.
RHRP Cam Day pitched a scoreless 9th with 2 Ks to finish the game.
- Josue De Paula – 3-5, 3 runs, 1 RBI, 2 doubles (18)
- Zyhir Hope – 2-4, 2 RBI, double (8), Sac Fly
- Griffin Lockwood-Powell – 2-4, 2 RBI, double (8)
- Elijah Hainline – 1-2, 3 BB, 2 runs, 4 RBI, HR (8)
Dayton Dragons (Reds) 3 – Great Lakes Loons 2
The Loons score solo runs in the 2nd and 3rd. In the 2nd, 3B Eduardo Guerrero doubled (8), stole 2nd, and scored on the catcher’s throwing error.
In the 3rd, DH Eduardo Quintero doubled and scored on a RBI single by RF Jose Meza. That is all the Loons could generate on the night.
RHSP Brooks Auger gave up a leadoff triple in the 3rd who scored the Rawhide’s first run on a ground out.
In the 4th, Auger allowed a single, SB, and RBI single to tie the game. Auger got through 5.0 innings allowing the 2 runs, on 4 hits, 1 BB, and registered 7 K.
LHRP Jacob Frost pitched a scoreless 6th and 7th with 5 K. Unfortunately after he struck out the 1st two batters, he gave up a triple and WP for the go ahead and eventual winning run. 7 of the 9 outs recorded by Frost were strikeouts.
It was the triples that hurt GL pitching.
No Great Lakes batter had more than 1 hit.
Ontario Tower Buzzers 15 – Visalia Rawhide (Dbacks) 4
Ontario scored 15 runs on 14 hits. Five of those hits were HR.
But it was the Rawhide scored first. In the 1st inning, RHSP Cam Leiter gave up a BB, 2 singles, and a sac fly for a pair of runs. Leiter got the first out in the 3rd before being lifted for RHRP Ricardo Montero. With 2 outs, Montero hit a batter who stole 2 bases. The runner scored on a double giving the Rawhide a 3-1 lead.
But the Ontario bats came alive in the 4th. 3B Chase Harlan led off with a double (7) and scored on RF Ching-Hsien Ko’s RBI single. 1B Easton Shelton slugged a 2-run HR (12) for a 4-3 lead. After one out, C Anson Aroz singled and scored on a double (1) by 2B Javier Herrera. LF AJ Soldra hit a 2-run HR (5) to finish the scoring in the 4th.
In the 5th, Ko and DH Landyn Vidourek both drew 2-outs walk. Aroz followed with a 3-run HR (3).
RHRP Will Gagnon gave up a double, 2 walks, and a RBI single in the 6th before getting the inning ending DP.
In the 6th, CF Jaron Elkins singled and stole 2nd (18). SS Joendry Vargas hit a 2-run HR (5). With one out, back to back singles by Ko and Shelton and Aroz drew a BB to load the bases. Herrera and Aroz both drew run scoring walks. Elkins reached on catcher’s interference with another run scoring. The 5th run came home on a ground out.
RHRP Jholbran Herder and RHRP Angel Cruz pitched the final 3.2 scoreless innings.
- Ching-Hsien Ko – 3-3, 2 BB, 3 runs, 1 RBI, double (6)
- Jaron Elkins – 2-5, 2 runs, 2 RBI, HR (8)
- Easton Shelton – 2-5, 2 runs, 2 RBI, HR (12)
- Anson Aroz – 2-3, 2 BB, 3 runs, 3 RBI, HR (3)
- Javier Herrera – 2-3, 2 BB, 1 run, 2 RBI, double (1), triple (2)
- HR’s by AJ Soldra (5) and Joendry Vargas (5).
ACL Guardians 8 – ACL Dodgers 6
- Catcher Eduardo Rojas was 3-4 (all singles) with 2 runs scored.
- RH Abel Lorenzo was 2-3 with a BB, scoring 1 run and knocking in 2. Lorenzo hit his 5th double.
- 2B Daniel Mielcarek was 2-4 with a run scored.
- SS Aidan West was 1-4 with a 2 RBI triple (2).
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Discussion (71)
Disagree, not disagreeable
I know he got the loss and the blown save, but the guy has been nails. Tucker looks completely lost. Needs to sit a day or two and let Ward play. As a matter of fact, I would have let Ward PH over Rushing who hasn’t hit a ball hard in a couple of weeks.
Missed the game, went to see backrooms. Not great, or awful, but well made and kinda worth the hype
Really good game. Tough one to lose. Scott finally took one on the chin. I typically feel that pitch types don’t matter as much as location. But I thought Scott and Will made a mistake on Harper. There’s a base open and he should see nothing but sliders especially after he flailed badly on the first 2. I would have thrown nothing but sliders to Harper. Certainly not a fastball in the loop zone. If he walks on sliders away so be it. Scott threw a pretty good fastball but right in Harpers loop zone for a hit. It wasn’t a bad pitch but it was a bad selection to Harper. Sasaki is doing what he lacked early; 3 pitches he can locate. He even has something now running away from LHB, with his splitter now running arm-side. He locates the fastball nicely up and the slider isn’t popping out of his hand and backing up or having a hump in it. When he had fastball only, too many were center cut. Nice to see he improvement I suggested he achieve in OKC. While watching the first replay of the play at home, Pages never touched home and was never tagged but called safe As the replays were shown Joe and Orel missed the safe call. At the start of the next inning, they got the ruling from New York, and sure enough, that was it. Pages had no reason to go back and touch home as he had been ruled safe by the HPU. When he sees a safe call there’s no reason to go back and touch home. Odd play. Never seen that one before but I have seen the HPU make no call and the runner had to touch or was tagged out. Call and Espinal were great. Espinal is a great story from couch to the diamond. I’m rooting for these guy.
Scott had three hitters in the 8th inning ,Crawford,Harper and Sosa with two strikes and couldn’t put them away. Hopefully this is just one bad outing,
Looked to me he was saying “here it is, hit it”, and they did. Multiple times. Games like this, games where opportunity to win is there and they don’t seize that opportunity, are going to happen. It’s frustrating when they do, but as D-Train has said, “those guys drive nice cars too”.
He is always in the zone. Hitters know and are ready. He just needs to throw more pitches out of the zone. Looks like a strike, looks like a strike… It’s a ball!
Going to pick up my new truck today. Will miss the beginning of the game. As for Scott, it is easy to look after the fact and criticize his pitches. But Vesia was all over the place, he struck out Sosa simply because the guy was so hyped. When he hit against Scott, he was more patient. Scott just made a bad pitch. I am not going to trash all the good work he has done over that. Last year he gave up 11 bombs. This was only the third, and the first time in close to a month that he has been scored on.
There is no question that he is better this year, but his proclivity to throw strikes is his undoing. With most pitchers, you have to decide if the pitch is a ball or a strike. With Scott. a high percentage of the time, it’s a strike, right down Broadway.
It’s official. Kyle Tucker is a BUST! And the Cubs warned us
I’m not sure Vesia threw a strike to any of the batters he faced. That gets back to Phil’s point. Scott needed to throw less strikes.
We’re stuck with him for 160 million for the next three years. NO way he opts out after two years and who will sign him for that amount.The eye test and stat test says he was NEVER worth that contract. I hope I’m wrong, but more than one third of the season has past and he has a 0.9 WAR.
The contract is actually 180 million for the next three years.
Tucker is also blocking a spot for one of the highly talented outfield prospects whoever that may be.
Fabian Ardaya @FabianArdaya Dave Roberts said Tyler Glasnow “hasn’t gotten over the hump” to ramp up his throwing progression beyond playing catch. Back isn’t bothering him, per se, but hasn’t been able to let it rip.
I get why the Dodgers got Glasnow and Snell. Hopefully, they will be healthy for the playoffs. Tucker was a head-scratcher, and I said so at the time. I hope to eat some Crow, but this has the potential to be the worst signing in history!
But with Scott, we are a 1/3 thru the season and his 3 homers given up projects to 9. Not much difference from last years 11.
Once the ball leaves your hand, you have no control over where it is going. Stating the obvious here. Maybe he was trying to hit the corner and just hung one. Who knows, but like I said, he is a much better pitcher this year than last. A month ago, according to many on this site, Treinen was finished. He has rebounded well. I do not think this one little setback is going to mess with his head. Yamamoto has hung more pitches than Scott this year with worse results.
Projections are useless. If all 11 are solo shots with leads bigger than 1 run, they don’t mean squat. If he pitches 54.1 innings like he did last year, it only projects to 6. It is all guess work. The guy’s first bad outing in a month and everyone go bananas.
Tucker looks totally discombobulated at the plate. He actually took BP yesterday. That worked well. I am happier about how Mookie did yesterday, and Alex Call. Underrated outfielder he is and was a gritty player.
Hopefully not the return of Tanner “two-strike” Scott.
I’m not sure I agree with your comment that Once the ball leaves your hand, you have no control over where it is going. That would suggest pitchers have neither control nor command of the strike zone.
Kyle Tucker can hit .240 all year but his contract value and worth will be judged in October. He’s too good a player to be this average for 2 months (unless he’s injured, but it doesn’t look like he is). What this tells me is WHEN he wakes up, he will carry us for a while. But again, all that matters is October. We’re in first place with an average Kyle Tucker. We’d be in first place with an MVP Kyle Tucker too. So all that matters is October.
Sunday Dodger Affiliates’ Schedule 10:05 a.m. PT: Great Lakes (Sterling Patick) at Dayton (Ovis Portes) 11 a.m.: Tulsa (Wyatt Crowell) vs. NW Arkansas (Frank Mozzicato) 12:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Cole Irvin) at Sugar Land (Brandon McPherson) 1:05 p.m.: Ontario (TBA) vs. Visalia (Junior Ciprian)
Phil, many have criticized Orel for telling us what pitch should be the next pitch? Well, you were channeling Orel in your 1st paragraph–I say with a smile and a little smack. It’s always interesting when announcers flub up rules.
Earlier, Orel said Sasaki shouldn’t throw Sosa a strike because he swings at every pitch.