KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Reporting late for work is frowned upon in most jobs. But Justin Wrobleski is making it work.
Pitching in a ‘bulk’ role behind an ‘opener’ – buzzwords of baseball’s new-age pitching vocabulary – Wrobleski allowed just three hits over six scoreless innings as the Dodgers beat the Kansas City Royals 5-1 Sunday afternoon.
Kiké Hernandez and Will Smith hit home runs to back Wrobleski as the Dodgers concluded their six-game road trip to Denver and Kansas City with five wins.
The Royals lost the series but paid a lot of bills. The three games drew a total of 100,436 fans to Kauffman Stadium, the most for a three-game series in KC since June 2017 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Sunday’s crowd had to sit through a 62-minute rain delay before seeing any action. Lou Trivino opened for the Dodgers and gave up a run before facing his third batter. Jonathan India led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Bobby Witt Jr.’s double.
Wrobleski took over in the second inning, and the Royals got just one more runner past first base in the game. In the third, Wrobleski walked the No. 9 hitter to start the inning. He went to third on Maikel Garcia’s two-out single before Wrobleski got out of the inning.
Wrobleski cruised through the rest of his outing, retiring 12 of the final 14 batters he faced and finishing with six strikeouts.
Wrobleski’s past four appearances have been in ‘bulk’ relief, and he has given up just four earned runs in 20⅓ innings with 21 strikeouts.
Kiké Hernandez gave Wrobleski a lead in the bottom of the second inning with a two-run home run off Royals left-hander Kris Bubic. Hernandez came into the game hitting just .185 with a .660 OPS against lefties – a big part of his role with the Dodgers. The homer was his first since May 17.
Will Smith added a solo home run in the sixth inning and the Dodgers put the game away with two more runs in the seventh inning on doubles by Andy Pages and Max Muncy and an RBI single by Miguel Rojas.
Relievers Kirby Yates and Jack Dreyer finished off the combined five-hitter with a perfect inning each.
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