Steve Webb
SEATTLE, WA — In a lot of ways, 2023 for the Los Angeles Dodgers has been about the two guys at the top of the lineup having stellar years. And make no mistake, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman have been the engine that makes this offense go. However, it’s important to note that there are other Dodgers on this team who are around to pick up the slack when Mookie and Freddie aren’t being amazing. Friday night in Seattle was one of those nights. On this night, the Dodgers got key contributions from Miguel Rojas, Max Muncy, J.D. Martinez, and James Outman in a 6-3 win over the Seattle Mariners.
The first half of the game was a showcase of two of the game’s best young pitchers: Bobby Miller and the Mariners’ young righty George Kirby. And for the first part of the game anyway, the two pitchers pretty much lived up to their billing. Through the first four innings, the only blemish to the scorecard on either side was a Eugenio Suarez solo homer surrendered by Miller in the bottom of the fourth.
However, in the top of the fifth, the Dodgers finally broke through against Kirby. Jason Heyward led off the inning with a soft single to center, but was still stuck on first with two outs when shortstop Miguel Rojas stepped into the box. Rojas continued his power surge that he’s been showing in the second half by belting a screaming liner over the left field fence to give him his fourth homer of the second half and give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.
The Dodgers added to that lead in the next inning, when Max Muncy ripped a triple down the line that allowed Will Smith to rumble all the way home from first. Then, J.D. Martinez ripped a single to score Muncy, and the Dodgers were up 4-1.
Bobby Miller, who’d been pretty much cruising through five, ran into trouble in the sixth. He got charged for two runs in a generally messy inning, and couldn’t make it to the end of the frame. Miller’s final line for the night: 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K.
Even though he needed to be bailed out in the sixth by Caleb Ferguson, it was a solid outing for Miller, who is looking more and more like a Game One starter in the postseason. In fact, manager Dave Roberts practically confirmed as much in a pregame interview, saying that Miller was sure to start one of the two home games at Dodger Stadium that will open the NLDS.
The Dodgers were able to tack on some insurance late in the game to give closer Evan Phillips some breathing room in the ninth. J.D. Martinez knocked in his second run of the ball game with a two-out single in the top of the eighth, and James Outman became the 10th Dodger rookie to hit twenty home runs in the top of the ninth when his solo shot cleared the center field fence.
“Tonight was one of those things where [Betts and Freeman] pretty much didn’t carry the load for once and we were able to get the job done,” J.D. Martinez said after the game, reflecting on the performance of the back half of the lineup.
It turned out Phillips would need all that breathing room in the bottom of the ninth. He gave up a couple of singles in the inning, and the M’s had runners at the corners when Phillips finally struck out Teoscar Hernandez to end the game.
“That was a test,” Roberts said of the playoff feel of the game. “I think this environment, on the road, it was a little bit more hostile. Your adrenaline starts to kind of seep through. And how do you manage emotions?
“And so that’s something that I wanted to see.”
