Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Though it was tempered by some tough-luck injury news from starter Dustin May, the Dodgers ended a 5-1 homestand with a bang on Wednesday afternoon. The home boys rallied late to tie the game in the bottom of the 7th and then James Outman delivered the kill shot with a grand slam to account for the margin of victory in a 7-3 win over the Minnesota Twins.
Like the first two games in this entertaining three-game set, this one was a back and forth affair that got decided late. The Dodgers started the scoring in the 3rd on a Freddie Freeman sac fly. The Twinkies answered back on a Byron Buxton homer in the top of the 4th. The Dodgers answer that with a run of their own in the bottom of the same frame on a a Mookie Betts. RBI single. However, Minnesota got back-to-back single runs in the 6th and 7th (one of which on a homer by our old buddy Joey Gallo), and the Dodgers went into the bottom of the 7th inning trailing 3-2 and needing another come-from-behind win to secure the series victory.
The top of the 7th started as a real bummer when both Mookie and Freddie struck out for two quick outs. However, Will Smith and Max Muncy hit back-to-back singles off Twins reliever Jose DeLeon. That brought on a pitching change and former Padre Emilio Pagan came in to face Jason Heyward, who walked to load up the bases.
Enter the rookies. Miguel Vargas stepped in, but Pagan still couldn’t find the dish. He walked Vargas on just five pitches, none of which was particularly close, and suddenly the game was tied. So here James Outman. He, of the hot start, and struggles in May. Going into Wednesday’s game, Outman was in the midst of a mini-slump, having gone hitless in his last 12 at-bats with six strikeouts. Still, his little dribbler in the fourth and become an infield hit, and he had stolen a bag and come around to score on Mookie’s single, so he at least had that monkey off his back.
The monkey would soon be banished from the Ravine completely. Having walked a couple of guys already, you just knew that Pagan would throw something in the zone if it killed him on the first pitch to Outman. He did, and it did. It was a fastball in the lower part of the zone, and to his credit, Outman was up there swinging. Most guys in a slump might have let that first strike go by when a pitcher is struggling with command. But Outman was ready to pounce. He drilled the pitch to deep centerfield and it landed just beyond the fence and beyond the reach of Michael A. Taylor. Grand Slam!
“There’s no secret I was grinding,” said Outman after the game. “My teammates were keeping me positive. David [Peralta], Jason [Heyward], Will [Smith], Freddie [Freeman], to name a few. … They were keeping me centered and it felt really good to finally come through in a big spot.”
The Dodgers took a 7-3 into the 8th and never looked back, closing out the game with Brusdar Graterol and Evan Phillips both pitching scoreless innings to finish off the Twins.
It would have been a perfect day at the ballpark except for the gigantic bummer of Dustin May coming out of the game after just one inning. Testing revealed that May was suffering from a right flexor pronator strain. This nasty bit of business comes with about a month minimum in recovery time, but given May’s history of other injuries, I wouldn’t think his return prior to August or September to be all that likely. Ugh.
“It’s a big blow,” said manager Dave Roberts. “My first [thought] goes to Dustin and what he’s had to go through. … Obviously, he was a big part of this year — and he still could be. But right now, to have this speed bump with him, I know he’s disappointed.”
Without May in the game, the Dodgers had to cobble together another long string of innings from the bullpen, aided especially by recent call-up Dylan Covey, who threw four innings of his own, holding the Twins to just two runs.
However, stop-gap measures and bullpen games are not what this franchise needs right now. They’re going to need to think seriously about adding another quality arm stat, as they are already spread way too thin at the pitching position.
However, that is what good teams do. They figure out a way to win. And the Dodgers are a very good team. They will figure it out.
