When the Los Angeles Angels came up the freeway to Dodger Stadium they were considered one of the worst teams in baseball. On the other hand, the Dodgers had one of the best records in all of baseball, and of course, are the defending World Champions.

After a 6-4 victory over the Dodgers on Sunday, the Angels completed a three-game sweep of their cross-town rival, and they looked very good in the process. 

The Angels jumped all over Tony Gonsolin in the very first inning. A leadoff homerun from Zach Neto set the tone early. Gonsolin would walk Yoan Mancada and then give up a two-run homer to Taylor Ward. Just four batters in, and already the Dodgers were in a three-run hole. 

When asked about the Angels quick start, Dodger catcher Will Smith said, “It was just a slow start, (for Gonsolin). In the first inning they jumped on him when he left a couple heaters up. They were able to get up on us early.”

Rubbing salt into the wound, so to speak, Gonsolin’s thumb on his throwing hand was a bloody mess. Somehow Tony opened a cut that would not stop bleeding.

“Just had some dead skin after the bullpen and tried to pick it off,” Gonsolin said. “Took some good skin with it. Just wouldn’t stop bleeding, but I don’t make excuses for myself like that. I still need to execute pitches, and I wasn’t doing that today.”

Somehow Gonsolin was able to complete the inning and throw three more before his less than impressive day was over.

On the other side, Angel pitcher Yusei Kikuchi was throwing a gem up until the fifth inning. An errant pickoff attempt from catcher Travis d’Arnaud went into right field and put Kike Hernandez in scoring position. Shohei Ohtani would single and pick up an RBI when Kike scored. 

Kikuchi’s day would be over in the sixth inning when he rolled his ankle covering first on an infield hit from Tommy Edman. If not for the injury, it appeared he was going to pitch into the later innings.

In the very next inning, Dodger Will Smith would hit a dramatic three run homer over the left field fence and tie up the ball game 4-4. It looked as though maybe the Dodgers had some momentum.

The lead would be short live though as d’Arnaud would hit a solo shot in the very next inning and put the Angels back on top by one run.

“It’s tremendous,” d’Arnaud said. “Every game here felt like a playoff atmosphere. It felt like everybody was passing the baton, good at-bats up and down. Just a dog fight every single game. High stress. And we prevailed in all three games. It’s really special against last year’s World Champions. I think it’s very good for our confidence moving forward, knowing we can beat anybody now.”

Neto scored on a fielders choice in the ninth to give the Angels a little bit of insurance going into the bottom of the ninth.

The Dodgers were unable to muster any kind of offense at all in the ninth. It was only fitting that Ohtani would strike out to end the game. Nothing went right for the Dodgers all weekend and that strikeout put an exclamation point on that.

After the game Dodger manager Dave Roberts explained, “I think with Tony today, it was a grind from the outset. You know, the walks behind the count. I don’t think he had command of a split, and it was a grind today. And so, you know, with the first-inning pitch count (29), we were fortunate to get him through four, but still, you know, with what we went through this series with the starters, there’s a lot of innings our ‘pen had covered, and that’s unfortunate. Still had a chance to win the game today, though.”

This was the first three game Freeway Series sweep for the Angels since 2010.

Shaun Anderson came in relief and picked up the win for the Angels.

Dodger pitcher Andy Banda was credited with the loss.

Next up, The Angels will travel to Sacramento to take on the Athletics while The Dodgers will play host to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Article by: William Trillo