Vance Worley’s debut with the Miami Marlins was cut short primarily because of Adrian Gonzalez and Yasmani Grandal, who went a combined 6-for-8 with four doubles and three RBI in the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3 victory at Dodger Stadium.
Grandal’s first double kept the bottom of the first alive for Gonzalez. He pulled a letter-high inside fastball to right field, giving the Dodgers a 2-0 lead. The extra-base hit was his first since April 25.
After a Grandal single with two outs in the third, Gonzalez drove a double to the left-center field gap. However, both runners were stranded as Worley retired Chris Taylor. The multi-double game nonetheless was Gonzalez’s first since April 23.
Joc Pederson hit a fly ball to right field that carried for a solo home run in the fourth. Giancarlo Stanton’s best effort included climbing, and momentarily opening, the bullpen gate.
Brandon McCarthy carried a perfect game into the fifth inning. He was particularly efficient through the early stages, needing a mere 30 pitches to complete three frames.
Chase Utley lent a hand in the third by making a diving stop on a ball hit up the middle. McCarthy lost his perfect game on Derek Dietrich’s two-out slicing double down the left-field line.
A.J. Ellis broke up the shutout one batter later, lining an RBI base hit to right-center field. Jarlin Garcia replaced Worley in the bottom of the fifth, but it made no difference to Grandal and Gonzalez.
A double followed by a base hit extended the Dodgers’ lead to 4-1. Gonzalez had his first three-hit game since Aug. 22, 2016. For Grandal, it was more of the same. Including Sunday’s he’s had at least one extra-base hit in eight of his past 11 games.
McCarthy worked around a Dee Gordon double and Christian Yelich walk in the sixth, which was his final inning. The right-hander allowed just one run on three hits, and had five strikeouts.
Brad Ziegler’s first offering in the bottom of the sixth hit Pederson on the back of his knee. Kiké Hernandez followed with a line drive that kicked off Dietrich’s glove and carried into left field for a double.
Brett Eibner followed suit, as Dietrich was unable to snag another line drive, and the two-run single extended the Dodgers’ lead to 6-1. The Marlins mounted a bit of a rally against Pedro Baez in the eighth.
Gordon’s base hit was followed by a Yelich walk to put two on with two outs. Marcell Ozuna dropped an RBI single into right field, trimming the Dodgers’ lead to 6-2. Baez managed to keep the damage at a minimum by inducing Stanton into a pop-out.
Kenley Jansen surrendered a leadoff home run to Justin Bour in the ninth inning before finishing out the game to give the Dodgers a series win.
