Dodgers 4 Nationals 3: LOL

Dodgers sweep the Nationals thanks to a crazy walk off courtesy of the Wild Horse.

Julio Urias got the start again this evening, but unfortunately is still looking for his first major league win. Urias went five innings, struck out six, walked one and gave up two earned runs. He is slowly starting to settle into a rhythm here with the big league club, but still seems to struggle with pitch count. Tonight he threw 94 pitches tonight, which is a career high for him since he was always on a limit in the minors. On the bright side, Urias now has struck out 29.7% of the batter’s he has faced this year, only five pitchers currently have a higher percentage. While, that is clearly based off of a small sample size, it proves that Urias can fool batters and has the stuff to strike them out. When his curve ball hits the spot, man it’s a beauty.

The Dodgers scored first tonight and right away in the bottom of the first inning. Chase Utley led off with a single, Corey Seager followed him up with another single to center. Justin Turner could not reach base, but he lined out which allowed Utley to advance to third. Joe Ross then threw a wild pitch that allowed Utley to score. That run was Utley’s 1,000th career run. The crowd demanded a curtain call to celebrate Utley’s career achievement.

The Nationals came back right away in the second inning to score two off of Urias. The two runs would eventually score off of a single and back to back doubles. After that Urias did not allow another run in the three remaining innings he pitched.

Seager tied the game up with one swing in the third inning when he hit a solo shot to center. Perhaps my favorite part was when he slightly tipped his cap after touching home plate and flashed a smile to his mom who was at the game behind home plate tonight. The score was now 2-2 and would stay that way until the eighth inning when Pedro Baez came in and allowed a solo home run to Wilson Ramos. Baez has now given up 7 home runs in just 33 innings of work. The Nationals now led by a score of 3-2.

In my opinion, the best highlight of the night was the circus catch made by Utley and Adrian Gonzalez in the fifth inning. I could watch that replay all day long. Go check it out on the Dodgers Twitter because it was awesome.

Baez stayed in to pitch the ninth inning. He allowed a lead off single to Anthony Rendon and another single to Clint Robinson. With two outs, Jayson Werth came to the plate and ended up turning it into an eight minute/ 11 pitch AB that resulted in a walk. (It also doesn’t help that Baez moves slower than most pitchers in the majors). Dave Roberts pulled him following the walk which meant Chris Hatcher was the Dodgers new pitcher and was coming into the game with the bases loaded, two outs and Bryce Harper up. Hatcher got Harper to ground out and he was called out at first only by a few steps. The Dodgers dodged a bullet, but still were down by a run heading into the bottom of the ninth inning.

Joc Pederson led off the inning with a strike out. Roberts put in the Dodgers last bench player, Howie Kendrick, who ripped a single into right. Then came Yasiel Puig to the plate. Puig singled into center and Michael Taylor just over ran the ball in center. It rolled under his glove and all the way back to the wall. Puig took a single and an error and turned it into scoring the winning run. (It was basically an inside the park home run, but only scored as a single thanks to Taylor’s error. Which qualifies it as a “Little League home run”. Nonetheless, it was exhilarating to watch). The wild horse is back and running full speed around those bases. Taylor just had an awful night. He had the error that sealed the deal for the Dodgers and he struck out five times at the plate.

This was a must win for the Dodgers for many reasons. The Nationals are a tough team, so every win against them only helps boost some confidence in the clubhouse. The Giants also won again today so the Dodgers needed to win in order to stay 5.5 games back in the division. The best part about it all, was that Puig was the one who got to do it. The Dodgers have now won six in a row and this is also the third home game Urias has started that has ended in a walk off win.

I do not know about y’all, but my heart rate has not reached a normal pace yet. That was a great end to a tough, yet successful series. The Dodgers have an off day tomorrow so let’s do it all over again on Friday boys!