The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Cleveland Guardians, 7-1, on a day when they honored one of their all-time greats with the unveiling of a Sandy Koufax statue in the center field plaza at Dodger Stadium.
The pregame ceremony was emceed by Charley Steiner. It also included speeches from Joe Torre, Clayton Kershaw and Mark Walter before the blue curtain was removed to reveal the bronze statue of Koufax that sits by the Jackie Robinson statue.
“Sixty-seven years ago, Jackie Robinson became my teammate, my friend,” Koufax said. “At that time, sharing this space with him was absolutely unimaginable. And today, it still is. It’s one of the greatest honors of my life.”
While the Dodgers honored the Hall of Fame southpaw before the game, the attention then turned to another left-handed starter in Julio Urías, who made his 13th appearance of the season.
The Guardians quickly took a 1-0 lead when Ahmed Rosario scored as a result of an error by Max Muncy, but Urías was able to limit the damage there.
A day to remember for No. 32 pic.twitter.com/DeDYaRAYY5
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 18, 2022
Trea for two! pic.twitter.com/PpdmDeHcdN
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 18, 2022
Victory formation! pic.twitter.com/TYdOb1IiBK
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 19, 2022
The 25-year-old pitched six innings while giving up no earned runs and striking out six batters. This was enough to earn him his fourth win of the season as the offense rebounded after scoring just one run in 10 innings on Friday.
Austin Barnes tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second inning, and the Dodgers then took the lead with a two-run home run from Trea Turner.
That additionally extended Turner’s hitting streak to 11 games. Along with the current stretch, Turner has produced hitting streaks of 27, 26 and 16 games since being traded to the Dodgers last year.
From there, the offense continued to add on runs. Justin Turner doubled to drive in Max Muncy in the third inning, before Gavin Lux tripled him in to give the Dodgers a 5-1 advantage.
In the sixth, Justin Turner drove in another run with a bases loaded walk, and L.A. scored their final run of the game when Freddie Freeman reached on a throwing error that allowed Lux to score.
Dodgers placing Mookie Betts on injured list
While the day was a special one for the Dodgers, it wasn’t all good news as manager Dave Roberts announced the club will be without Mookie Betts for the foreseeable future.
Betts missed the first two games of the series because of what the team described as a right rib contusion.
X-rays were negative and he was scheduled to undergo a CT scan that Roberts said before first pitch on Saturday wound up being bypassed because Betts reported improvement. However, after the win, Roberts revealed Betts has a fracture in his ribs and will go on the 10-day injured list.
“Mookie was preparing for the game this morning and couldn’t quite loosen up,” Roberts explained. “So we ended up obviously scratching him from the lineup and he ended up getting some more imaging.
“An MRI scan revealed a cracked rib, so he’s going to go on the IL. The time to return is basically TBD.”
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