The Los Angeles Dodgers found themselves trailing late against the San Diego Padres, entering the seventh inning down 3-1 with their lone run coming in the second on a homer from James Outman.
The offense could not string anything together against Yu Darvish until the seventh inning, when David Peralta doubled and Outman singled him home.
Entering the eighth, still trailing by one, the Dodgers rallied to tie the game against the Padres’ bullpen with a two-out double from Peralta. With the game now locked at three, the offense exploded for another four runs, capped off by a two-run single from Amed Rosario to go up 7-3.
The offense did not stop there, however, with another three runs in the ninth inning, with a double from Will Smith, who has been in a prolonged slump, and a single from Chris Taylor to give them their 10th run of the night.
In total, the Dodgers scored nine runs in the final three innings of the game for another comeback win in a season where they are leaving their mark as a gritty and clutch offense, which manager Dave Roberts attributed to their approach at the plate from being in these types of situations previously, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“It’s a byproduct of experience,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the at-bats during the rally. “You can see CT – not really swinging the bat that well, not really feeling comfortable, but still to wait out at-bats. Will Smith, not swinging the bat well, wait out at-bats. There was obviously the intentional walk with Jason but our guys – when you’re tried and experienced, you can kind of not panic. You can see that in the later innings when those guys have to throw the baseball over the plate and if they don’t, we’ll take our 90 feet.”
The Dodgers’ experienced approach shined through with their hitters drawing three walks in the eighth inning to fuel the rally, along with an intentional walk to Jason Heyward. Mookie Betts drew the first one following a single from Kiké Hernández, and the Padres ended up issuing the free pass to Heyward later in the inning, which loaded the bases.
Taylor could have looked to play hero ball to try to break open the game with the bases loaded and two outs, but instead he took a walk to drive in a run and keep the rally going, rather than swinging at a pitch he didn’t like or letting the pressure get to him.
J.D. Martienz then pinch-hit for Outman with a lefty on the mound, and he worked a walk as well with the bases still loaded, giving the Dodgers a 5-3 lead before Rosario came through with his single to finish off the five-run inning.
With their knack for comeback wins, clutch-hitting and two-out runs batted in, the Dodgers lineup is proving they have a lineup built for October — all that’s left is to figure out their pitching staff.
Dodgers lead MLB in bases-loaded walks
Martinez gave the Dodgers their 13th walk of the season with the bases loaded, which is most in baseball this season.
In addition, the Dodgers 457 total walks this year leads MLB, tied with the San Diego Padres. The Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers are tied for the third-place spot with 395 each.
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