He Dodgers tapped into some unlikely power sources to erase a three-run deficit Friday night, Miguel Rojas and Chris Taylor They each homered in a tying fifth inning against the Kansas City Royals in Chavez Ravine.
Then they used some fossil fuel to win it, as the veteran first baseman said. Freddie Freemanwho will turn 35 in September, hit a two-out RBI single to center field in the eighth inning to lead the Dodgers to a 4-3 victory in front of a crowd of 49,580 people.
Mookie Betting sparked the winning comeback against Royals left-hander Will Smith with a one-out single to left field, and took second on Smith’s errant throw to first.
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Shohei Ohtani he jumped to shortstop, but Freeman hit an 83 mph slider off the plate and launched a single to center off his former Atlanta Braves teammate (the ball came off his bat at 75.7 mph) to score Betts and take the lead. from 4-3.
Freeman felt like he had been underperforming for two months, with a .286 average and .842 on-base-plus-slugging percentage through the end of May, but he has lived up to his lofty standards in June, batting .357 ( 15 of 42). ) with three home runs, three doubles and nine RBIs in 12 games to raise his season average to .297 and OPS to .892.
“Freddie knows how to get a hit” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. saying. “By getting to that point, I know he took a big weight off his shoulders.”
Taylor, the little-used utility man who entered Friday with a .100 average, .307 OPS and 41 strikeouts in 103 plate appearances, can relate. With his first home run of the season, he felt like a few cinder blocks had been lifted from his shoulders.
“Yeah, it’s been a while,” said Taylor, who hadn’t homered since last Sept. 7, over a span of 165 plate appearances. “I think it was more of a relief than anything else. He wasn’t sure he could do that again.”
Royals starter Cole Ragans, whose five-pitch mix included a fastball that averaged 96.2 mph and peaked at 98.3 mph, was nearly untouchable for four innings, allowing one single and striking out two, and Salvador Perez went for the left-hander to a 3-0 lead with a three-run homer in the top of the fourth.
But that lead disappeared in the span of four last-place batters in the fifth, a recovery that the rookie Andy Pages sparked with an infield single with one out.
Rojas stepped up on a 3 and 1 count and hit a 94 mph fastball from Ragans, hitting his third home run of the season, and the 47th of his 11-year career, 390 feet to left field to bring the Dodgers within reach. . 3-2.
“That was a big success for us, it gave us some life,” Roberts said. “Ragans was throwing the ball so well that one minute you think you might get a no-hitter, and the next thing you know you’re back in the ball game.”
Kiké Hernández grounded back to the mound for the second out, but Taylor jumped on a 2-1 changeup, lining his home run into the left-center field pavilion to make it 3-3. It was just Taylor’s 10th hit and second extra-base hit of the season.
“I try to take it day by day, but I definitely have moments of frustration,” Taylor said of his struggles throughout the season. “It’s a little strange not being there as often. Some days you feel fine and don’t play. So sometimes you don’t feel good. I just try to be consistent with my work and be ready when the opportunity comes.”
Roberts, a former major league outfielder, said he couldn’t imagine going through what Taylor has endured this season.
“For me, there would have been a lot of sleepless nights,” he said. “But he comes in every day ready to help us win, and that’s who he is. … It’s pretty much the same whether he’s doing great or having problems.”
Taylor’s wife and young son, Theo, who was born last year, help keep things in perspective.
“I don’t know how I would have handled this early in my career,” Taylor said. “I think I took a lot more things home. Now that I have my wife and son at home, it’s a nice escape from all of this. “I am very grateful to have them.”
Stone, who entered with a 7-2 record and 2.93 ERA in 12 starts, blanked the Royals with one hit in three innings, but struggled in the fourth, Maikel García leading off with a single to center field, taking second. place with Bobby Witt. Jr. groundout and third on a wild pitch. Vinnie Pasquantino walked to put runners on first and third with one out.
Stone then hit an 88 mph first-pitch slider to Perez, who demolished the middle-of-the-plate offering for his 11th home run of the season, the ball leaving the veteran catcher’s bat at 113.3 mph and traveling 437 feet for a 3 .-0 advantage.
“Yeah, definitely, sure,” Stone said, when asked if he wanted that pitch thrown back to Perez. “But once it’s over, you can’t really do anything about it. You can only focus on the next batter, so having that focus helps a lot.”
Stone escaped a two-out jam on first and third in the fifth by getting the dangerous Witt to fly to center field, and he retired the team in order in the sixth and seventh innings to give the Dodgers a chance.
It was the fourth time in nine starts that Stone, who allowed three runs on four hits, struck out three and walked two no-decisions, completed seven innings.
“I have all the confidence in the world in him, he can make a pitch when he needs to, come back after a tough inning and keep us in the game, which he did,” Roberts said of Stone. “He saved the bullpen, which was a bit in limbo. He seems to do it every time he gets the ball and he has earned that trust.”
Six-man rotation
Bobby Miller, out since April 13 due to shoulder inflammation, will return to start Wednesday night’s game in Colorado, meaning the Dodgers, “for this time,” Roberts acknowledged, will go with a rotation six-man team that includes Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, James Paxton, Walker Buehler and Stone.
The Dodgers have given starters extra rest throughout the season by mixing in occasional bullpen games and calling up minor leaguers Landon Knack and Elieser Hernandez to make spot starts, but they have been reluctant to commit to a rotation of six men because that would thin out their bullpen. eight to seven relievers.
“I don’t like being backed into a corner,” Roberts said of his aversion to a six-man starting lineup. “Right now, (it will be) a six-man rotation, but you don’t want to be beholden to that. You know, there are days off coming up and you have to appreciate the (extra) rest for others too.”
short jumps
Roberts said veteran left-hander Clayton Kershaw, in the late stages of his recovery from shoulder surgery in November, will begin a minor league rehab assignment with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Wednesday. Kershaw threw to live hitters in a three-inning, 45-pitch simulated game Thursday and, barring a setback, could return in mid-July.
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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.
