No Ohtani, no problem for the Dodgers

[Kevin Barral]

MIAMI, FL — The dynamic of the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup changes with the presence of Shohei Ohtani, who can "change the scoreboard with one swing." Playing without Ohtani on Friday night, that game-changing swing came from Kyle Tucker instead, whose grand slam made the difference in a 6-2 Dodgers win.

Tucker, who signed a four-year, $240M contract over the offseason with the back-to-back World Series champions, hasn't lived up to that contract in year one. He came into Friday night's game slashing .225/.323/.361/.684 with 13 home runs and 60 RBI. However, he was excellent in the series opener against the Miami Marlins, going 3-for-3 with 5 RBI. He finished a double shy of the cycle.

In the top of the seventh inning, the Marlins deployed Victor Vodnik, who after striking out Alex Freeland and Kiké Hernández for the first two outs of the inning, got into deep trouble. Vodnik walked Tommy Edman, surrendered a base hit to Max Muncy and walked Mookie Betts. He was taken out in place of Cade Gibson to face the aforementioned Tucker.

On the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Gibson served a 79.5 mph curveball which Tucker obliterated 395 feet to right field. That increased a 2-1 Dodgers lead to 6-1.

"Tucker's a terrific hitter," Clayton McCullough said postgame. "Handles lefties well. Independent of how maybe this season is going, he's still a fantastic hitter and has been for a long time. He got a hanging breaking ball and turned the game for them."

Ryan Gusto, who struggled in his last start against the Chicago Cubs, bounced back against the Dodgers, tossing six innings of two-run ball, allowing five hits and striking out three. He’s now allowed two earned runs or less in seven of his last eight starts. Overall, Gusto has a 4.14 ERA, 4.08 FIP, 7.47 K/9 and 2.87 BB/9 in 78 ⅓ innings pitched.

"I thought his cutter was very good tonight, and mixed in his offspeed very well," McCullough said. "A really good start results-wise to go six and two runs. He continues, really for the last month-plus, of really throwing the ball well and giving us a great chance to win games."

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Agustín Ramírez lasered a 107.5 mph double into right-center, allowing Javier Sanoja to score.

Since rejoining the team after a stint in Triple-A Jacksonville, Ramírez has mostly been platooned, rarely being used as a catcher even when he's in the lineup. Friday was his first start behind the plate in more than a month. The double was only his fifth RBI in 28 games since being called up.

"Coming off the off day, I wanted to have his bat in the lineup, and thought this would be a good time to get him back there behind the plate," McCullough said. "He got a caught stealing and had some good blocks tonight. Handled the guys well, so it was a good night for Gus. Credit to him. It's hard to not be back there for an extended amount of time, but put in the work required and be able to go back there and be ready tonight to go do and perform."

With the loss, the Marlins drop to 72-76 on the season. They are officially eliminated from the National League East division title race. The Marlins have never won the NL East in their 34-year existence.

Trying to halt the Dodgers' eight-game winning streak on Saturday, Tyler Phillips takes the mound opposite of Tyler Glasnow at 4:10 pm.

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