The Los Angeles Dodgers have proven time and time again this season that no matter how late in a game they are down, they are never out of it.
That surfaced once more on Thursday night as they went into the bottom of the ninth trailing 2-0, only to came back to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-2, on a walk-off single by Kiké Hernandez to complete a series sweep at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers offense stayed quiet until that ninth inning as they only had one hit in their first eight frames, and that was a single by Kenta Maeda.
Max Muncy saw his five-game home run streak come to an end, but he got the rally started in the ninth with a leadoff walk against Derek Law. One batter later, Cody Bellinger laced a double down the line and the offense was in business.
It is no secret that this season has been filled with ups and downs for Corey Seager, but he followed with perhaps his biggest hit of the season, also doubling down the line to bring home both Muncy and Bellinger and tie the game.
That set the stage for Hernandez’s game-winner, which was a single that just barely made it over the infield and into shallow center field to bring home Seager. To make the moment all the better, Thursday was Kiké Hernandez Bobblehead Night at Dodger Stadium.
Perhaps the biggest reason why the Dodgers were in a position to walk it off in the ninth despite the poor offensive showing was because of their pitching staff. Maeda turned in a solid outing, striking out nine in six innings of work.
Caleb Ferguson, Yimi Garcia and Casey Sadler then struck out six in the final three innings to keep the deficit manageable.
The Dodgers now have 12 walk-off victories on the season, which is the most in baseball and three away from tying their franchise record of 15 set in 1974.
