April 29, 2017
The Dodgers went wild in the 9th inning against the Phillies on Saturday night at Chavez Ravine. LA hit back-to-back-to-back homers in a 4-run comeback to defeat Philadelphia 6-5 in walk-off fashion.
The Dodgers trailed 5-2 heading into the bottom of the 9th inning. Yasiel Puig led off with a solo blast to left center field. The next batter was Cody Bellinger, who crushed his 2nd homer of the game, this one off the right field foul pole, and suddenly it was 5-4.
That’s when skipper Dave Roberts sent Justin Turner to the plate as a pinch-hitter. Two pitches later, Turner went deep to left field, tying the game at 5-5. The homer also extended the Dodger 3rd baseman’s hit streak to 15 consecutive games.
“You always want to get the tying run to the plate, so that’s why I put Turner in and he responded,” Roberts said.
There was still nobody out in the inning after that. After Chris Taylor struck out, Austin Barnes singled to center. That promted the Nationals to replace Joely Rodriguez with reliever Hector Neris. Neris got Andrew Toles to fly out to left, but Corey Seager singled to left after that, so the Dodgers had runners at 1st and 2nd with 2 outs.
Adrian Gonzales then came to the plate and drilled a ball that bounced off of 3rd baseman Maikel Franco’s glove, and rolled into left field. That scored Barnes with the winning run from 2nd base.
“It had that topspin on the second hop and that makes it really tough for infielders,” Gonzales said.
The improbable victory moved the Dodgers one game over .500 at 13-12. It was also the first time the Dodgers hit 3 straight home runs since August 18, 2012.
Grant Dayton (1-0) pitched a scoreless 9th inning for the win. Brandon McCarthy got the start for LA. He went 5 innings, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits, while striking out 3 an walking 1. He threw 86 pitches, but did not factor in the decision thanks to the 9th inning rally.
Neris (0-1) took the loss. Zach Eflin started for Philly and pitched well. He went 7 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits, and striking out 4.
The Dodgers will go for the sweep on Sunday afternoon at the Ravine. Hyun-Jin Ryu (0-4; 4.64 ERA) will be on the mound for LA, while the Phillies will start rookie Nick Pivetta, making his major-league debut.