Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Whew! That, my friends, was a ballgame. Going into the eighth inning trailing 1-0, the Dodgers came up with a masterpiece of “Small Ball,” scoring three runs in the inning and securing a 3-1 victory over the Miami Marlins in the first game of Saturday’s weather-related doubleheader.
Playing in front of probably the smallest crowd the Dodgers have seen at the Ravine in a good long time, the Dodgers had trouble getting their mojo going against Miami starter Eury Perez. The lanky Perez had everything working on Saturday afternoon, striking out ten Dodgers in six innings of work. Chris Taylor had a double that almost went out, but other than that, the team managed just other hit during the first two-thirds of the game.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers went with a bullpen game. Caleb Ferguson opened the game, and gave up a couple of hits, but got bailed out by a great James Outman catch to put a zero on the scoreboard. Then, the ball went to Ryan Pepiot, making his long-awaited return to the lineup. After a long time on the shelf with an oblique strain, Pepiot returned to the mound with a vengeance. He attacked the zone from jump, and looked very good in his five innings of work. His lone mistake was giving up an RBI double to Bryan De La Cruz in the top of the fourth. His line for the afternoon: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER 1 BB, 5 K. Welcome back, Ryan. Hope you stay awhile. Our other Ryan, Yarbrough that is, shut down the Fish in his two innings of work to keep it a one-run game.
Still, the Dodgers had to do some scoring to win this thing, and the Marlins held them at bay for seven innings. However, all that changed in the bottom of the eighth. It started innocently enough, with a one-out walk to James Outman off reliever David Robertson. Kiké Hernández followed that up with a single that put runners at first and third with just one out.
That’s when the wheels were put in motion. Thursday’s homer hero, Austin Barnes, came to the plate, and this time, manager Dave Roberts put on the bunt. Barnsey fouled off the first pitch, but Roberts stuck with his catcher, and put the squeeze on a second time. This go-round, Barnes laid down a perfect bunt between the first baseman and the pitcher’s mound. First baseman Josh Bell fielded the play, but his throw to the plate was late and sailed past catcher Jacob Stallings as Outman slid under the tag that never came. With the throwing miscue, Hernandez and Barnes took an extra base, and the Dodgers were cooking with gas.
With the game now tied, Mookie Betts wasted no time in changing that. He smacked the first pitch from Robertson into left field, and both Hernandez and Barnes were able to scamper home with the Dodgers’ second and third runs. Evan Phillips came in to make short work of the Marlins in the ninth inning, and the game was over.
Though some might prefer the home run-hitting contest that MLB baseball has become, it’s sometimes nice to watch something like this one. It was beautiful. The Dodgers go for the series win on Saturday night, with Julio Urias locked and loaded and on regular rest. Here we go!
