The Los Angeles Dodgers erased a four-run deficit in the ninth inning and earned their fifth walk-off of the season on James Outman’s double in the 10th to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-7.
After Julio Urías endured more familiar struggles in the first inning, Freddie Freeman tied the game with a 442-foot solo home run in the bottom half. That extended his MLB-leading on-base streak to 25 games and represented the longest homer hit by a Dodgers player at Dodger Stadium this season.
The Blue Jays pulled back ahead on Bo Bichette’s two-run home run in the third inning. Bichette finished 4-for-6 and a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.
Toronto threatened to add onto their lead in the fifth, but stranded two runners. They had two more reach in the sixth inning but Urías, seemingly facing his final batter, struck out Whit Merrifield to escape the jam.
Although Urías did not have his best stuff, the quality start kept the Dodgers in position to rally. Urías exited with a 3-2 deficit that grew when Caleb Ferguson issued a leadoff walk and allowed an RBI double in the eighth.
That came shortly after the Dodgers failed to take advantage of having two reach in the bottom of the sixth inning. Further magnifying the insurance run at the time was J.D. Martinez’s solo homer in the eighth only cut the Dodgers’ deficit in half rather than tying the game.
The home run was Martinez’s 25th of the season and sixth in the past 12 games. He had been out of the Dodgers lineup the last two days because of left hamstring tightness.
Martinez’s home run nearly wound up being all for naught as the Blue Jays scored three runs off Justin Bruihl in the ninth inning. The Dodgers immediately began to rally in the bottom of the ninth with three consecutive singles, the last of which was an RBI base hit from Mookie Betts.
They went on to load the bases with one out and scored on Max Muncy’s walk before madness ensued. With the Dodgers down to their final out, Chris Taylor hit a chopper that skipped off Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and brought in two runs to tie the game despite the ball never leaving the infield.
Will Smith scored the tying run from second base, inadvertently running through third-base coach Dino Ebel putting up a stop sign.
Smith was at the center of another key moment in the 10th inning with a strong effort to apply a tag on Kevin Kiermaier after receiving a throw from Betts.
That set the stage for Outman’s first career walk-off hit.
Dodgers trade for Kiké Hernández
The Dodgers traded for Kiké Hernández a few hours before first pitch, sending Minor Leaguers Nick Robertson and Justin Hagenman to the Boston Red Sox.
Hernández is expected to be in the Dodgers lineup for the series finale on Wednesday afternoon.
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