The Dodgers trail the Tigers for most of the night, but Teoscar Hernandez ties the score with an RBI single in the eighth and Ohtani puts the Dodgers on top in the ninth for a 4-3 win.
DETROIT — Dave Roberts used his two best relievers in the sixth and seventh innings with his team trailing, went with Michael Petersen in a high-leverage eighth inning with the score tied, wound up pinch-hitting Austin Barnes in a clutch ninth-inning situation.
And it all worked.
Shohei Ohtani ripped a two-out RBI double in the ninth inning to break a tie and give the Dodgers a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
Ohtani’s ground-rule double over the wall in straightaway center field gave the Dodgers their first lead in a week (since last Saturday’s home win against the Milwaukee Brewers) and snapped a four-game losing streak.
For most of the game, the Dodgers were playing like a classroom filled with students eyeing the clock, waiting for summer vacation to start – or, in this case, the All-Star break. They managed just three hits in the first seven innings.
The only veteran left in the rotation, James Paxton was not the answer to the Dodgers’ starting pitching problem. He couldn’t get through four innings, nearly matching the 11 outs he recorded with the nine baserunners he allowed – five hits and four walks.
A two-run double by Riley Greene put the Tigers on top with one out in the first inning. They added another run in the second when Justyn Henry-Malloy’s triple drove in Ryan Villade, who had drawn one of Paxton’s now 44 walks this season (third in the National League).
Paxton took a ground ball off his shin in the fourth inning but stayed in long enough to give up a single and walk another batter before Roberts pulled him at an un-economical 81 pitches.
Over their past 13 games, the Dodgers’ starting pitchers (including ‘opener’ Anthony Banda on Thursday) have allowed 53 runs in 53⅓ innings thanks to 78 hits (including 14 home runs) and 24 walks.
After being stymied by the Phillies’ trio of Zack Wheeler, Christopher Sanchez and Aaron Nola, the Dodgers had another hard-throwing riddle to solve in young Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal.
Skubal retired 10 of the first 11 Dodgers, six on strikeouts. The only break was an error by shortstop Javier Baez.
Freddie Freeman broke the spell with a solo home run in the fourth inning and Skubal skidded off the rails long enough for a walk, a ground out and a single by Andy Pages to push across another run.
They didn’t get another baserunner in Skubal’s six innings and didn’t score another run until the eighth inning when Teoscar Hernandez bounced a single through the right side to drive in the tying run.
Blake Treinen and Evan Phillips (who hadn’t worked since July 6) pitched the sixth and seventh, leaving Roberts with just Daniel Hudson available among his high-leverage relievers.
Holding Hudson for a save situation, Roberts went with Petersen in the eighth. He walked the first batter he faced and balked him to second, putting the winning run in scoring position. But he retired the next three batters.
Chris Taylor punched a single into right field with one out in the top of the ninth and Roberts sent James Outman out as a pinch-hitter. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch countered by bringing in lefty reliever Tyler Holton to face the left-handed Outman.
Roberts pulled Outman back, sent Barnes up to pinch-hit instead and the right-hander dropped a single into center field to put runners at the corners.
After Gavin Lux popped out, Ohtani turned around an 0-for-4 day – and a 1-and-0 fastball from Holton. His line drive to the deepest part of the ballpark traveled 403 feet before it bounced over the wall for a double.
That put the game in Hudson’s hands – just the way Roberts planned it. Sort of.
Hudson put the tying and winning runs on base with walks but struck out Matt Vierling and got Riley Greene to fly out.
More to come on this story.
