The Los Angeles Dodgers were headed for another loss behind another anemic performance by their offense but back-to-back home runs from Yasmani Grandal and Brian Dozier sparked enough of a turnaround, and Grandal capped it off with a home run in a 4-2 walk-off win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
The plate was set for Grandal by Matt Kemp breaking an 0-for-26 skid with a leadoff single in the bottom of the 10th. The walk-off home run was a first for the Dodgers in the regular season since Charlie Culberson did so on Sept. 25, 2016.
Chase Anderson entered with a streak of allowing two runs or fewer in his last seven starts, which he extended. Anderson was dominant early, getting through four perfect innings before unraveling a bit.
Grandal led off the fifth with a line-drive home run into the visitor’s bullpen, and Dozier followed with a game-tying solo homer to straightaway center field. Dozier’s home run was reminiscent of Adrian Gonzalez going deep in his first game (and first at-bat) with the Dodgers in 2012.
Dozier, who was batting cleanup, struck out swinging in his first at-bat Wednesday night.
He later led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a base hit and came around to score the go-ahead run on Yasiel Puig’s one-out single into right field. Chris Taylor going first to third base on the hit proved key as he then scored on a safety squeeze by Kiké Hernandez.
The insurance run proved key as the Brewers rallied off Scott Alexander in the eighth.
A pair of walks set the table for Mike Moustakas, who delivered an RBI double. Manny Pina then lined a flare single off Taylor’s glove for a game-tying RBI single.
In the bottom half of the eighth, Moustakas robbed Taylor of a bases-loaded hit and at least one RBI with a diving stop at third base to end the inning.
While he didn’t factor into the decision, Rich Hill gave the Dodgers six strong innings. The night began on an ominous note as Lorenzo Cain’s ground ball got past a diving Dozier at second base and rolled to the fence in right-center field.
Cain wound up with a triple and was awarded home plate when Dozier’s throw got by Manny Machado and Hill and carried into the dugout. Cain was involved again in the third when he doubled and scored two batters later on a wild pitch.
The win snapped the Dodgers’ three-game losing streak and moved them into a tie with the Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the National League West standings.
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