Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — It was one of those backyard fantasy moments. Every kid has said it in his imagination…. “Tie ball game, bottom of the ninth, two outs. Bases loaded, full count. Can he do it? Yes. He. Can!!!!” And then we round the imaginary bases having just hit a walk-off knock to win the game. Well, that little boy’s fantasy came true in real life for Mookie Betts at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night. Mookie came off the bench and delivered a game-winning single that broke a 2-2 tie with the Diamondbacks and sent the Dodger fans home with the win. Not a great game. But a fantastic ending.
Urías great, but Gallen even better
We knew going into this game that runs were going to be at a premium on Thursday night. With aces Zac Gallen and Julio Urías starting, it was a match-up of two top-five candidates for the Cy Young this season. And for once, the game lived up to the hype. Both pitchers were great. Urías got dinged by a ticky-tack run in the 3rd when the D-backs scored on a single, some sloppy defense, and a sacrifice fly.
The Dodgers on the other hand, couldn’t solve the nearly unhittable Gallen all night, but managed to find a little window of opportunity in the bottom of the 4th. Will Smith hit an 0-2 pitch into left that outfielder Stone Garrett played into a triple with an ill-advised dive for the ball. Then, Max Muncy ripped a run-scoring double down the right field line, and the game was tied at 1-1.
Urías lifted but pen is great through eight
Julio Urías didn’t last as long as Gallen; he only went 5.1 innings in this one. He was lifted in favor of Evan Phillips in the 6th after giving up a leadoff double and a hot shot to third for an out. Unlike Gallen, Urías has hopefully six more weeks of baseball left to play, so manager Dave Roberts decided he’d seen enough from his ace. Phillips, and two relievers who followed were just great. Phillips got two strikeouts to end the sixth. Alex Vesia struck out the side in the seventh. And Brusdar Graterol had and efficient 1-2-3 eighth. So the game went into the 9th inning still deadlocked.
Walker stings Kimbrel in 9th for solo homer
Let’s face it, Dodger fans. The Elsa moment is over. Yes, it was cute for about ten seconds, but we all knew that sooner or later Kimbrel would return to this Craig Kimbrel that’s driven us crazy all year long. This time, it was noted Dodger nemesis Christian Walker who did the dirty deed, taking Kimbrel deep, deep, deep to straightaway center for a solo home run to make the score 2-1 Diamondbacks. Kimbrel managed to get out of the inning with no further damage, but now the Dodgers were three outs away from losing a home series to a team that they’ve owned this year.
Thank you, Reyes Moronta!
Instead of Gallen, who completely dominated the Dodgers all night long, it was former Dodger Reyes Moronta who came in to try to get the save and secure the victory for Los Serpientes. And the Dodger hitters must have been licking their chops a la the Blake Snell removal from Game 6 of the 2020 World Series (albeit on a much, much less serious plane of existence).
Leadoff hitter Cody Bellinger worked a 3-2 count off Moronta before he absolutely golfed what would have been Ball 4 off the right field fence for a stand-up double. After Trea Turner grounded out to short, Moronta wanted nothing to do with Freddie Freeman. He fell behind him 2-0 and then quickly issued Freeman the free pass to first, thus putting the winning run on the bases for no charge.
That brought up Will Smith, who hit a grounder that looked like it was headed for left field. However, Geraldo Perdomo dove for the ball and kept it in the infield and very nearly nabbed Freeman at second. Upon review, Freeman was ruled safe, so the bases were loaded with just one out. Moronta’s night was over, and All-Star Joe Mantiply came into the game looking to douse the suddenly raging fire.
Max Muncy was next at the bat, and though Max has had more heroic moments, there is something to be said for just battling and putting the ball in play. After falling behind 1-2, Muncy hit a slooooooow groundball to third that was eventually scooped up the third baseman Sergio Alcantara. Alcantara had no chance of getting Belli at home, so he threw to first in an effort to at least get the second out of the inning. His hurried throw was wide and nearly lost the game right then and there if not for a great play from first baseman Christian Walker. However, everyone was safe, and the game was tied.
Mookie! Mookie! Mookie!
Mantiply was able to strike out Justin Turner for the second out of the inning, which brought up Joey Gallo‘s spot in the lineup. And, one of the benefits of giving Mookie Betts a scheduled day off was that Dave Roberts had one of the game’s best players just sitting around on the bench ready to do damage. The decision was an easy one; Gallo was lifted and Betts stepped in with a chance to end the game with a base hit.
Betts watched a ball miss high. Then, after a called strike, he took two more balls outside the zone to get ahead 3-1. With nowhere to put him, Mantiply had to throw a strike. Betts knew that, but watched a center-cut sinker find its target to move the count full. He fouled off one more pitch before he got the one he was looking for: a 90-mph sinker over the heart of the plate. Betts absolutely pounced on the pitched and drilled a solid single into left field. Freddie Freeman scored easily, and Mookie had delivered his second walk-off winner of 2022. DJ Severe, play me some Randy Newman!
Potential NLCS preview this weekend
With the Dodgers having pretty much locked up the first seed in the postseason, they will see a couple of teams in the next week which are both vying for position in the tournament. First up, the St. Louis Cardinals, who are pretty much locked into the three-hole in the tournament. That would put them on the Mets’ side of the bracket, so the only way the Dodgers and Cards would meet up in the postseason would be if the Cards ran the table and won the Wild Card series and the NLDS. Not likely, but I’m sure Dave Roberts isn’t too eager to give the Cardinal hitters (especially Goldy and Arenado) too good a look at any of their pitching. He will, however, give the ball to Andrew Heaney for Friday night, to face the well-traveled Jose Quintana, who some California fans will remember from his days with the Angels.
Game time on Friday: 7:10 PDT. It’s an Apple TV+ game, so we get that fun to deal with one more time this year.
Cans of Corn…
- Man, Zac Gallen’s stuff is nasty — 13 strikeouts by the Dodgers in this one.
- Julio was good, but probably the Cy Young is still Alcantara’s at this point.
- Nice return to the mound for Graterol.
- Blake Treinen is still a big question mark as to the level of availability he’s going to have in October. He won’t do any throwing until Saturday. Then, we’ll see.
- Elsa… you’re fired!
- The next series will also feature the return of Albert Pujols to Dodger Stadium, with him sitting precariously close to that mystical threshold of 700 home runs. Should make for good theater at the yard this weekend.
- Maybe we can get some, I don’t know, hits or something in the next series, mmmmkay?
