Though the weekend series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves was largely centered around Freddie Freeman making his return to Truist Park as an opposing player, another Dodger continued his historic run of dominance.
Los Angeles took two out of three from the defending World Series champions, the team who had ousted them in the NLCS last year, and Tony Gonsolin continued to show why he might just be the Dodgers’ next ace.
He struck out five yesterday and went 5.2 innings, allowing just one run.
MLB.com analyst Sarah Langs tweeted a list of the lowest Dodgers ERAs through the first 14 games of a season for a pitcher, and Gonsolin has matched 2016 Clayton Kershaw by lowering his ERA to 1.58.
Lowest ERA in 1st 14 apps of season, all starts — Dodgers since ER official in NL (1912):
2019 Hyun Jin Ryu: 1.26
1968 Don Drysdale: 1.31
1966 Sandy Koufax: 1.40
1972 Don Sutton: 1.55
2022 Tony Gonsolin: 1.58
2016 Clayton Kershaw: 1.58— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) June 27, 2022
The Dodger Way
There’s just something about the Dodgers and their pitchers.
Pitchers come up to the big leagues with the Dodgers and start off doing great.
Gonsolin is no different.
Perhaps having a veteran guy like Kershaw around helps things quite a bit.
Veteran leadership is always key to a young player’s success and that appears to be the case for Gonsolin.
Gonsolin was more of a fringe-starter when he first came up and was used in the bullpen quite a bit, but now, he has become yet another front-line starter for the Dodgers, strengthening an already dangerous rotation, which is key right now, given the absence of Walker Buehler.
The Dodgers have plenty of great pitching depth and Gonsolin is a major part of that.
He may not have earned a decision last night against Atlanta, but he still is emerging as an ace in that Dodger rotation.
He remains undefeated and is proving to be one of the Dodgers’ key starters.
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