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The Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman hits a three-run triple during the seventh inning of their game against the Miami Marlins on Wednesday in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
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The Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman hits a three-run triple during the seventh inning of their game against the Miami Marlins on Wednesday in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
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MIAMI — Not since Crockett and Tubbs has a duo laid down the law in Miami like Landon Knack and Matt Sauer.
Promoted from Triple-A with an assignment to soak up innings so the rest of the Dodgers’ pitching staff could catch its breath, Knack and Sauer combined to take a shutout into the ninth inning as the Dodgers beat the Miami Marlins, 10-1, on Wednesday.
The Knack-Sauer patch was everything the Dodgers could have hoped for – and more – giving the entire bullpen a spa day in the midst of a schedule that will feed them 19 games in 20 days.
“This was the perfect outcome for us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Obviously Knack was going to go as long as he can. Then just to be able to use Sauer. … This is the 100 percent outcome.”
They opened the roof at loanDepot Park for the series finale and seemed to let all the offense out. Whether it was the sunshine and blue sky or the combined efforts of Knack and Marlins starter Valente Bellozo, the Dodgers and Marlins combined for just three hits through the first five scoreless innings.
Bellozo, a Mexican right-hander with an unremarkable track record through six professional seasons, baffled the Dodgers with his six-pitch repertoire. He allowed just one hit in 5⅓ innings – a first-inning single by Freddie Freeman that extended his hitting streak to 12 games – and walked one while striking out six in a Dodgers lineup devoid of Teoscar Hernandez (injured) and Will Smith (day off).
The first run of the day didn’t come until Bellozo was lifted in the sixth inning and was a combined product of Shohei Ohtani and Freeman – another duo that stars in Miami.
After walking in his first two at-bats, Ohtani ripped a triple to center field with one out in the sixth inning. Mookie Betts drew a walk and Freeman drove Ohtani in with a single to left field.
In eight career games at loanDepot Park, Ohtani is a .394 hitter (13 for 33) with three doubles, Wednesday’s triple and six home runs – half of them in his 50/50 game last September. Those numbers do not include another career highlight – the 2023 World Baseball Classic championship game played here.
That was all the support Knack and Sauer needed.
Knack allowed just one baserunner through the first four innings and two hits in the first five.
“The day was really just trying to attack, get ahead and stay on the attack the whole time,” Knack said.
“Kind of everything felt pretty good today. We did some work on the throw the last couple weeks (in Triple-A), kind of got back to me, real true north-south, less spinning. Kind of keeping everything over the plate. Fastball location was great. Curveball, I was able to strike that. Changeup was really going. So I felt really good.”
As his pitch count crossed 70, he gave up a pair of singles to start the sixth inning. Sauer took over from there. He got a double-play grounder and struck out Jesus Sanchez (Tuesday’s walk-off hero for the Marlins) to escape harm.
“You just come in and sometimes you have to throw your best stuff immediately,” said Sauer, who pitched nine innings against the Marlins in his past two big-league outings. “I was able to land a curveball then get a cutter down and away, get a double play ball. In that situation that’s what you need to do, what you really want to do.”
The margin for error got much bigger after the Dodgers broke the game open with a six-pack in the top of the seventh.
Hyeseong Kim drove in the first run with a single. With runners at the corners, the Marlins intentionally walked Ohtani. Betts drew an unintentional walk to force in a run and Freeman unloaded them with a three-run triple. Andy Pages drove Freeman in with an RBI single.
Freeman shares Ohtani’s fondness for the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami.
In 95 games there, Freeman has hit .328 (120 for 366) with 18 of his 42 home runs against the Marlins.
“Obviously I feel good. The swing’s going up through the middle. Kind of been looking for this swing for a long time, and finally found it,” said Freeman, 22 for 46 during his 12-game hitting streak.
James Outman piled on with a three-run home run in the ninth. But a pair of errors on the infield led to a run for the Marlins in the bottom of the inning, spoiling the shutout.
“Landon was fantastic,” Roberts said. “Coming here a day ago and getting ready to pitch and appreciating what we were up against, and to be efficient, go out there and keep us in the ballgame, throw the baseball really well. Then to be able to hand it off to Sauer and do what he always does, fill up the strike zone, keep the pace of play.
“To use those two guys (for all nine innings) today, considering where we were at – (we) feel a lot different than we did last night. The ’pen is reset, and getting ready for Arizona.”
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