Jason Heyward hit a pinch-hit three-run homer to right field in the bottom of the eighth inning Tuesday night to break a tie and put the game back on track. Dodgers for a 6-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners before a crowd of 48,395 at Chavez Ravine.
The third homer as a pinch-hitter in his 15-year career may also have helped save Heyward’s job with the Dodgers, who will soon have to decide who will be the utility player. Chris Taylor replaces when he comes off the injured list, with Heyward, outfielder Kevin Kiermaier and utility player Kiké Hernández being the most vulnerable players.
The score was tied 3-3 when Will Smith was hit by a pitch with one out in the eighth inning and Max Muncy walked. Tommy Edman struck out, but Heyward viciously took a 99 mph fastball into the top of the zone from Mariners reliever Anthony Munoz and sent a 108 mph laser beam over the short right-field wall for a 6-3 lead.
The Dodgers had cut a 3-0 deficit to 3-2 when Gavin Lux and Muncy each hit solo homers in the fourth, Lux sending a 390-foot drive to center field to continue his torrid monthlong stretch and Muncy hitting a 407-foot drive to the back of the right-field bullpen for his second homer in two games since returning from an oblique strain.
Lux was hitting .211 with a .556 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, three homers, eight doubles and 24 RBIs in 79 games through July 19. In 29 games since, the second baseman was hitting .372 (35-for-94) with seven homers, 10 doubles and 21 RBIs, raising his season average to .254 and his OPS to .713.
The Dodgers tied the score 3-3 in the seventh when Edman led off the scoring with a double to right-center and scored on Mookie Betts’ two-out RBI double to left field.
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Freddie Freeman was intentionally walked and Teoscar Hernandez singled to right field, but Seattle outfielder Mitch Haniger sent a fly ball to catcher Cal Raleigh in time to catch Betts at the plate and end the inning.
Five Dodgers relievers — Alex Vesia, Ryan Brasier, Anthony Banda, Joe Kelly and Daniel Hudson — combined to allow just one hit in five scoreless innings behind starter Walker Buehler as the Dodgers maintained their National League West lead of three games over San Diego and four games over Arizona.
It took Buehler three pitches to record two outs and 79 pitches to get 10 more, which is a good indication of how the right-hander, who is struggling to find anything resembling his pre-surgery form, fared Tuesday night.
Buehler struggled through four innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and throwing 82 pitches while striking out one, walking three and struggling with his control, his second straight shaky outing since returning from a right hip injury last week.
Buehler returned from his second Tommy John surgery in early May and went 1-4 with a 5.84 ERA in eight starts while allowing 10 homers in 37 innings. He injured his hip in mid-June and spent several weeks of his two-month absence at a private training facility in Florida in an effort to “get those feels back.”
But when he returned to Milwaukee on Aug. 14, he needed 87 pitches to record 10 outs in a 3 ⅓-inning effort in which he allowed four runs, one earned, on three hits, struck out three, walked four and threw first-pitch strikes to seven of 17 batters in a 5-4 loss.
“I think what I’m looking for tonight is the first strike,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “It’s no secret that when a pitcher gets ahead in the count, he has a lot more success. If he can get (his first-strike rate) around 60 percent, it’s going to be an easier road for him.”
Buehler actually did a better job of getting ahead in counts, throwing first-pitch strikes to 14 of the 21 batters he faced, but six of those at-bats in which he threw first-pitch strikes ended in hits or walks.
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After allowing a two-out double to Raleigh and walking Luke Raley and Randy Arozarena to load the bases, he moved ahead of Jorge Polanco on an 0-and-2 count. Polanco then lined a 1-2 sinker to right field for a two-run single and a 2-0 lead.
With two on and one out in the third inning, Buehler got ahead of Polanco again on an 0-2 count. Polanco lined a 1-2 changeup to left-center field for an RBI double and a 3-0 lead.
Buehler did well to limit the damage in the third, getting Haniger to bunt home and Josh Rojas to ground out to first with runners on second and third to end the inning.
Buehler allowed one hit in a scoreless fourth inning, an inning in which he yelled at home plate umpire CB Bucknor about a boundary pitch to Julio Rodriguez that was called ball, but his pitch count was too high to start the fifth.
Short jumps
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, out since June 16 with a rotator cuff strain, is scheduled to throw to batters in a two-inning simulated game on Wednesday. Roberts said the right-hander will need one more three-inning simulated game session before going on a minor league rehab assignment. … The Dodgers postponed reliever Blake Treinen’s return from the injured list from Tuesday night to Wednesday night in order to retain long-stopper Ben Casparius for one more game.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
