The Los Angeles Dodgers were headed toward reaching the All-Star break by losing a second consecutive series to a team in last place of a division but rallied late and came away with a 7-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks behind a walk-off home run from Max Muncy.
One day after setting a Dodger Stadium record with 22 runs, the Dodgers only had a Mookie Betts leadoff home run in the first inning to show for offense much of the afternoon. The 1-0 lead held until Tony Gonsolin surrendered a game-tying homer with two outs in the fourth inning.
The Diamondbacks took the lead against Darien Nuñez in the fifth, and extended it to 4-1 on Daulton Varsho’s two-run homer off Scott Alexander in the seventh inning.
Down to their final six outs, the Dodgers began a rally in the eighth with Zach McKinstry’s leadoff walk. Singles by Betts and Muncy then loaded the bases with nobody out, and the Dodgers got a gift run when Justin Turner lifted a fly ball to deep right field that Josh Reddick inexplicably dropped.
Will Smith was hit by a pitch later in the inning and Chris Taylor tied it with an RBI bloop single into center field.
Different day, same story. pic.twitter.com/wzkDLqTCxA
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 11, 2021
TIE GAME. pic.twitter.com/2Syles7JGE
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 11, 2021
MAX ON, WALK-OFF. pic.twitter.com/Xk1DxUU4Yj
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 11, 2021
After Kenley Jansen kept the game tied in the ninth, Albert Pujols led off the bottom half of the inning with a base hit. Betts was intentionally walked with one out, and the decision backfired as Muncy hammered a walk-off, three-run home run to right field.
Dodgers have second-most wins
Despite incurring a rash of injuries to key players during the unofficial first half of the season, the Dodgers reached the All-Star break with the second-most wins in baseball.
“Considering all we’ve been through, I’d say pretty good,” Muncy said. “I don’t know how many injuries we’ve had — 20, 30, or whatever the number is — the fact that we’re playing really good baseball, we have a really good record right now, I’d say we’ve done a good job.
“Obviously, we can do a lot better and have a lot of potential. We haven’t played anywhere near the caliber that we are capable of playing, but I’d still say we’ve done a good job just based on the number of injuries we’ve had.”
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