If there’s something strange in your neighborhood

Who ya gonna call – ghostbusters

If it’s something weird and it won’t look good

Who ya gonna call – ghostbusters

“Ghostbusters” – Ray Parker Jr.

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It wasn’t a ghost but instead a scoreless game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX on Sunday afternoon when, in the top of the eighth inning, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman stepped to the plate with one out, Dodgers catcher Will Smith on third base, and designated hitter Shohei Ohtani on first.

That’s when the 35-year-old Villa Park, CA native roped a 2-0 splitter from former Dodgers right-hander Chris Martin 338 feet into left field for a sacrifice fly that allowed Smith to tag up and score the tie-buster for the only run of the game to give the Dodgers the 1-0 win and take two of three from the AL West first place Rangers.

“We certainly maximized the amount of hits we got today. Fortunately, we came away with the win,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said postgame.”

That “maximized” consisted of three Dodgers hits to the Rangers five. In other words, it was a pitchers duel, arguably the best by Roberts’ team thus far this season.

The good news is that 31-year-old Dodgers right-hander Tyler Glasnow was outstanding in his 4.0 inning start, allowing no runs and only three hits, while walking one and striking out six.

The bad news is that the Newhall, CA native and Dodgers fifth-round draft pick in 2011 out of Hart High School in Santa Clarita had to leave the game with no outs in the bottom of the fifth inning for lower leg cramps.

“It started in like the third (inning),” Glasnow told reporters postgame. “I just had the same, like my entire lower half just started cramping up and it just got worse and worse. And then I was able to early on like stretch it and then it just fully grabbed and I couldn’t get rid of it. So, I was just changing the way I threw and I just wasn’t letting go.”

The better news is that with scheduled days off, the hope is that he will be able to make his next scheduled start without hitting the injured list.

With Sunday’s win, the Dodgers are now in second place in the NL West 0.5 games behind the first place San Diego Padres. The beautiful part is that they are now 1.5 games ahead of the third place San Francisco Giants.

Play Ball!

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