Morning Rundown: Dodgers take 3-0 lead in World Series, Khristian Curtis tossed four shutout

Dodgers take commanding lead, Khristian Curtis bounces back

Photo Credit: WTM

Khristian Curtis pitches four shutout innings

Recap by John Dreker

The Scottsdale Scorpions returned to Arizona Fall League action on Monday night, after a day off on Sunday. They were at home to take on the Salt River Rafters. Termarr Johnson batted lead-off and played second base. Right fielder Sammy Siani hit in the seventh spot. Khristian Curtis was the starting pitcher.

Curtis got a pop-up to first base for the first out of the game. That was followed by a pop-out to shortstop and a liner to center field. He threw 14 pitches in the inning. Gameday had limited information for this game, so there are no velocities or pitch types available. Johnson walked on four pitches to start the bottom of the first inning. He was erased on a double play two batters later. Siani singled on a line drive to center in the second inning.

Curtis retired the side in order in the second inning on just four pitches. He got two fly balls and a liner to shortstop. He picked up his first strikeout to start the third inning. He got the next batter to line out to center before allowing his first base runner. Curtis served up a line-drive single with two outs in the third. He walked the next batter but got out of the jam one pitch later on a fly ball to Siani in right field. Curtis threw 18 pitches in the inning.

Johnson was called out on strikes in the third inning. Curtis came back out for the fourth inning. He got a ground out to first base, then a grounder to shortstop. He recorded his second strikeout for the final out of his day. He went four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk. He threw 47 pitches total, with 27 going for strikes. That performance dropped him down to a 6.97 ERA over 10.1 innings this fall, with seven walks and seven strikeouts.

Siani grounded out to second base in the fifth inning. Johnson walked on five pitches in the sixth inning. Siani flew out to left field to end the seventh. Johnson struck out swinging in the eighth inning. Siani had a chance for a huge hit in the ninth when he came up with the bases loaded and a 3-0 deficit. He grounded out for the second out of the inning, which brought in the first run for the Scorpions.

Johnson finished 0-for-2 with two walks and two strikeouts. He is now hitting .270/.438/.514 through ten games.

Siani went 1-for-4 with a single and an RBI. He is hitting .395/.435/.535 through 11 games.

Scottsdale lost 3-1, dropping them to a 5-12 record. The Scorpions will be on the road Tuesday evening to take on the Peoria Javelinas (5-12) at 4:30 PM EST.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers won on Monday to take a commanding 3-0 series lead and find themselves one game away from winning the World Series.

Freddie Freeman kicked things off in the first, blasting a two-run home run to give the Dodgers an early lead. It hadn’t been an ideal postseason for Walker Buehler, but he came up big when it counted.

He tossed five shutout innings, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out five. Buehler needed 76 pitches, and 45 went for strikes, to get through the five frames.

Mookie Betts and Kike Hernandez tallied RBI singles to extend the lead further. Alex Verdugo hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to bring the Yankees within two runs, but it wasn’t enough.

Game four will take place on Tuesday, with an expected start time of 8:08 pm ET.

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