Four walks, a strikeout and a balk. These were the key ingredients in the cocktail the Dodgers put together for a wacky eighth-inning rally that capped an 8-7 come-from-behind victory over the Houston Astros last night. Saturday.
A crowd of 49,281 at Chavez Ravine, their voices hoarse from mocking Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman, the two holdovers from Houston’s 2017 electronic sign-stealing team, turned up the volume for the final three innings, when the Dodgers overcame a 7-3 deficit. to defeat the defending World Series champions for their fourth straight victory.
“It tells you what kind of team we are,” said Dodgers outfielder David Peralta, whose pinch-hit, two-run home run pulled the Dodgers within 7-5 in the seventh. “We fought until the end. We will never give up.”
Read more: Scouts sue MLB for age discrimination, claiming league has ‘blacklist’
Peralta’s clutch homer to right field off reliever Phil Maton, his team’s first hit since the first inning, lit the fuse for the comeback, which Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said “provided life to us, because we were anemic for a long time,” but it was the Astros who exploded in the eighth.
Houston right-hander Bryan Abreu walked Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and JD Martinez to open the inning, Smith fought back from an 0-and-2 count to win a nine-pitch duel and Martinez spit a full-count breaking ball before the plate.
Jason Heyward lofted a sacrifice fly to right that Kyle Tucker made a sliding catch in the gap, Freeman scored to cut the deficit to 7-6 and Smith smartly tagged out and took third. .
James Outman then lined an RBI double to right field that stuck into the padding of the wall to tie the score 7-7 and put runners on second and third with one out.
Houston manager Dusty Baker called on setup man Ryne Stanek, who struck out Peralta in the second out. But as he prepared to throw a full-count pitch to Miguel Rojas, second-base umpire Junior Valentine ruled that Stanek balked, allowing pinch-runner Jonny DeLuca to jog home for in victory.
“He said I moved mine [right] leg, which was pretty obvious because I came off the mound,” Stanek said. “He said that I moved my knee, that, while you are standing, you have to move to step on the rubber. So I think that’s an interesting factor, especially in a situation like that, where a balk is intentionally trying to deceive the runner.
“When have I tried to trick a runner? I haven’t arrived yet. I am not in the process of arriving at the set. I just backed out. So yeah, I don’t see how you can make that call there. “
Stanek and Baker didn’t have much of an argument after the call, but after Stanek walked Rojas and struck out Michael Busch to end the inning, Valentine became angry as the umpire retreated toward center field, earning an ejection before stormed back to the dugout. . Baker was also ejected.
“Junior called it, and then he walked away,” Baker said. “Then [first base umpire Quinn Wolcott] said to me, ‘Don’t go there.’ I said, ‘Wait a minute.’ I need some kind of explanation because Stanek is going ballistic. Boy, that’s a tough way to lose. “
Roberts, of course, thinks Valentine made the right call.
“It was a balk,” Roberts said. “Obviously in a game like that, you don’t want it to be the deciding run, but they got the call. I think Stanek was looking at the pitch clock, maybe trying to quit and call timeout , and his cleat is stuck, and his right movement. It’s a balk to the letter of the law, so we’ll accept it.”
Read more: How an innocuous lie created one of the most iconic infields in Dodgers history
The Dodgers’ comeback took Bobby Miller off the hook after the rookie right-hander suffered his second straight shaky start, giving up six runs and 10 hits in four innings and and with five runs and five hits in the fifth, Bregman followed Altuve’s bunt single with a grand slam in left field.
Miller went 3-0 with a 0.78 ERA in his first four starts but gave up 13 runs and 17 hits in nine innings in his last two starts against San Francisco and Houston.
“You’ve got to limit the damage and keep making good pitches, and you’ll see that inning where his tempo is fast,” Roberts said of Miller. “He just forgot about his secondary pitches, and they put the ball in play.”
The Dodgers pushed Miller to a 3-0 lead on Smith’s solo homer and Heyward’s two-run homer against Astros starter Ronel Blanco in the first. Blanco then hit the mute button on the Dodgers’ offense, retiring 15 of 16 batters through the sixth inning.
Houston cut the deficit to 3-1 in the third and broke through for five runs in the fifth to take a 6-3 lead. The Dodgers bullpen’s 18⅓-inning scoreless streak ended when Ryan Brasier gave up a run in the sixth, but Phil Bickford threw two hitless innings with four strikeouts and Evan Phillips threw scoreless ninth for his 10th save.
There was only one hit in the decisive eighth inning for the Dodgers, but many good “team at-bats” in Rojas’ eyes.
“Kudos to the guys who fought for every pitch,” Rojas said. “The whole team is taking unselfish at-bats, not trying to be a hero, walking.”
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
