Oh thank heaven: Dodgers score 7 in the 11th
Oh thank heaven: Dodgers score 7 in the 11th
Close games between the Dodgers and Giants have been the norm through the years. But this one wilder than most, with confounding baserunning, defensive head-scratchers, running out of challenges, and two big innings early.
They had to empty the tank to get there, but the Dodgers unloaded with a seven-run 11th inning, making the most of borrowed time in a 14-7 win over the Giants in the middle game of this weekend at Oracle Park.
Shohei Ohtani was walked intentionally to open the 11th inning, rather than face him with a runner in scoring position. But the Dodgers made Sean Hjelle pay, collecting six consecutive hits and a sacrifice fly, plating seven runs, matching their total for the first 10 innings.
Seven runs are the most the Dodgers have scored in any extra inning since moving to Los Angeles.
Will Smith delivered the tiebreaking two-run double, his third hit of the game.
That the Dodgers even got to the 11th was a minor miracle, as the Giants looked poised to deliver a second straight walk-off win. San Francisco loaded the bases with one out in the 10th, the latter hit coming on a ball Heliot Ramos fouled off his foot for an infield single. But because the Dodgers exhausted their challenge on a play at first base in the eighth inning.
Daniel Hudson, pitching a day after allowing a two-run home run in the series opener, struck out Patrick Bailey with a five-man infield behind him. Then with a normal defensive alignment, Hudson induced a foul popout to Smith by Matt Chapman, completing the improbable escape.
Earlier, Tyler Glasnow got battered around in his shortest start of the season. He allowed nine of his 17 batters to reach base in three innings, the last of which required 37 pitches to navigate. The Giants got him for four doubles and five runs, and only struck out one.
It was the first time in 17 starts this season that Glasnow didn’t complete at least five innings.
But in keeping with the weirdness of this game, by the time Yohan Ramírez followed Glasnow on the mound in the bottom of the fourth, the Dodgers already regained the lead.
The Dodgers matched the Giants four-run bottom of the third inning with four runs of their own in the top of the fourth. The rally was keyed by the lower half of the lineup, including RBI singles by seventh-hitter Miguel Rojas and eighth-hitter Gavin Lux.
Rojas had three different run-scoring singles, including a go-ahead job in the 10th inning, and his sacrifice fly in the 11th capped the scoring. His four RBI are a season high.
The Dodgers’ undefeated streak when Rojas gets a hit might have ended on Friday, but the team is now 13-0 when he drives in a run.
The explosion of runs in the top of the 11th eased the burden of the bottom of the inning. After Glasnow’s short start, the Dodgers used all eight relief pitchers on Saturday, including Ryan Yarbrough getting all three batters he faced, after pitching two innings the night before. It’s just the second time this season Yarbrough has pitched on back-to-back days.
Saturday particulars
Home run: Shohei Ohtani (26)
WP — Daniel Hudson (5-1): 1 IP, 2 hits, 1 unearned run , 1 intentional walk, 1 strikeout
LP — Sean Hjelle (3-2): 2 IP, 6 hits, 8 runs (6 earned), 1 strikeout, 1 strikeout
Up next
The Dodgers road trip ends on Sunday afternoon (1:05 p.m., SportsNet LA), with James Paxton making his second start this week.
Yarbrough, Hudson, Blake Treinen, and Anthony Banda all pitched in the first two games in this series, so don’t expect them to pitch on Sunday. Whether the Dodgers feel the need to make a roster move for the series finale, ahead of a Monday off day, remains to be seen.