If you weren’t yet in your seat when Dodgers left fielder Joc Pederson led off the bottom of the first inning of Friday night’s game between the defending World Series champion Houston Astros and the World Series runners-up Los Angeles Dodgers, you missed the entire sum and total of the Dodgers offense.

After a scoreless 13-pitch top half of the first inning by Dodgers left-hander Alex Wood, Pederson picked up right where he left off the night before (in which he slugged two home runs in the Dodgers 21-5 trouncing of the Milwaukee Brewers) when he deposited the fourth pitch off of Astros All-Star right-hander Justin Verlander just inside the foul pole down the right field line for a solo home run to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead.

Pederson’s lead-off home run on Friday night was his third in has last seven at-bats.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

As noted, Pederson’s home run would be the sum and total of the Dodgers offense on the night. Yes, they would muster three more hits off of the future Hall of Famer, but no other Dodger would step on third base and only one other would reach second base in the eventual 2-1 Astros win of what some Dodger fans were calling “Game-8 of the 2017 World Series.”

Unfortunately, Game-8 ended much like Game-7.

To add insult to injury, both Astros runs came in the top of the second inning on a two-run double off the bat of 2017 World Series MVP George Springer.

That’s the bad news.

The worse news is that the second of those two runs was the result of a fielding error by Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger who, after making a great sliding stop to prevent the ball from rolling to the wall in left-center field, dropped it, allowing Astros center fielder Jake Marisnick to score what would eventually be the game’s (unearned) winning run.

Although Wood pitched great in his 6.0 innings of work allowing only those two runs (one earned) on only four hits while walking three and striking out four, the night clearly belonged to Verlander, who was absolutely brilliant.

In his 7.2 innings pitched, the 35-year-old Manakin Sabot, Virginia native and seven-time All-Star, former American League Cy Young award winner, former AL MVP, former Triple Crown winner, former AL Player of the Year, former ERA title winner, former ALCS MVP, former AL Rookie of the Year and, of course, former World Series champion, allowed just the one run on four hits (Pederson’s home run and three singles) while walking one and striking out 14.

“Gosh, I didn’t see anything different than he’s done against us the last three times – in Detroit and in the World series twice,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters after the game. “It’s one of those things with a guy like him – you’re going to see it again on Sunday and probably tomorrow – where it’s guys with plus stuff.

“They throw strikes. It’s hard to run a count,” Roberts added. “You seem like if you’re passive, you’re going to be 0-1. So you’ve got to be aggressive and try to be on the fastball. Tonight, I thought we took some good swings on the fastball, just didn’t barrel it.”

Simply put, while Alex Wood was very good, Justin Verlander pitched what was perhaps the best regular season game of his 14-year Hall of Fame-worthy career … other than his two no-hitters while with the Detroit Tigers, of course. (Did I mention that Justin Verlander is a future Hall of Famer?).

“This wasn’t like some mid-week game,” Verlander told reporters. “I hope the fans realized what a great ballgame it was. People might not like pitchers’ duels, but this was really exciting.”

Verlander struck out 14 Dodger batters on Friday night to match his career high, which he has now done four times. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

With Friday night’s loss, the Dodgers found themselves once again tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the National League West. They will attempt to even the series on Saturday evening in game-2 of the three-game set. Right-hander Kenta Maeda (7-6, 3.48), who has been anything but stellar in his last two outings, will toe the rubber for the Dodgers opposite Astros right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. (10-6, 4.06).

Play Ball!