Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — That would have been sweet. A second straight comeback win against the hated Astros* would have been a perfect ending to a great bounce-back week following last weekend’s disastrous series against the Giants. But it was not meant to be. After erasing a three-run deficit in regulation play, the Dodgers just couldn’t quite hang with Houston in extras, and fell in the series finale by a score of 6-5.
For the longest time, it looked like the Dodgers were going to lose this one. After a Mookie Betts lead-off homer gave the Boys in Blue an early lead, Tony Gonsolin gave up a pair of two-run dingers in his five innings of work, and the game went into the late innings with the Dodgers behind 4-1. However, the bullpen held fast, and gave the Dodgers a chance at their second straight comeback.
It was the bottom of the 8th inning that was the key frame for the home team this time around. It all happened with a furious two-out rally against Astros* reliever Rafael Montero. After Montero made quick work of Miguel Vargas and Michael Busch, he had to navigate the top of the Dodgers’ batting order to get out of the inning.
It didn’t go great for him. First, Montero plunked Mookie in the back with a pitch, giving the Dodgers a baserunner. During Freddie Freeman‘s at-bat, Betts swiped second base and was in scoring position. Sitting on 1,999 hits, Freeman got ahead in the count with Montero 2-0. After fouling off a changeup, Freeman got the exact same pitch from Montero a second time in the at-bat, just out of the zone low. This time, Freeman reached down and smacked it over Kyle Tucker‘s head in right field for one of Freddie’s trademark doubles. There it was, hit number 2,000. And it figures that Freeman would have an RBI double in a big spot for his milestone, and not just some random single at the end of a one-sided game. Good on you, Freddie. Long may you run.
“Yeah, that’s special,” Freeman said after the game. “Seeing how happy my dad, my stepmom, my wife, my kids were for me, it just makes it special. And the fans have embraced my family and I since the day I got here, so they made another special memory for the Freeman family. It’s a special day, one I’ll never forget.”
Meanwhile, the Dodgers still had some runs to score. Luckily for them, their second best hitter was up now. And Will Smith did not disappoint. On a 3-2 pitch, Smith banged a two-run home run over the fence in centerfield and in the space of three batters, the Dodgers had come all the way back.
However, tied was as close as they would come in this one. After a scoreless ninth inning, the two teams traded runs in the tenth, and then after Corey Julks drove in the placed runner for Houston in the top of the eleventh, the Dodgers had no answer in the bottom of the inning. Mauricio Dubon made a run-saving stab on a shot up the middle from Will Smith for the first out. On the play, placed runner Freddie Freeman moved to third. But there he would stay for the rest of the afternoon. Pinch hitter Miguel Vargas struck out and David Peralta hit a slow roller to third to end the game.
“It’s always tough to lose the last one, but to look back and say you won a series against a good ballclub, I feel we’ve got some momentum,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We’ve got Clayton [Kershaw] on Tuesday, and I feel good about that.”
Indeed, a 4-1 week was a lot better than anyone could have hoped for given what happened against the Giants. And with a relatively “soft” road trip coming up against two of the game’s worst teams (first the Rockies and then the Royals), there is no reason to think that the winning ways won’t continue for the rest of the month. Which would bring us almost exactly to the half-way point of the season.
After an off-day on Monday, the series in Colorado with Clayton Kershaw pitching in a stadium that he’s not particularly fond of, Coors Field, a place where his lifetime ERA is well above 4.00. Hopefully, with the extra day of rest, Kersh will have that slider breaking the way he wants it on Tuesday and can get the road trip off to a good start. It’s been quite a bumpy ride, but the Dodgers are still in this thing, and reinforcements are on the way. Keep the faith, Dodger fans.
