The Los Angeles Dodgers emptied their bench Tuesday night, even using Ross Stripling as a pinch-runner for a second time this season, and managed to come away with a walk-off victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Julio Urias threw six no-hit innings, losing his bid for history on an Andrew McCutchen ground-rule double to lead off the seventh inning. Urias exited after 6.1 frames, with a 2-0 lead and responsible for McCutchen at second base.
With some help from Kiké Hernandez losing a ball in the lights, the Pirates went on to tie the game, and eventually took the lead in the eighth inning when Pedro Baez surrendered a solo home run.
Tony Watson’s bid for a four-out save was thwarted when Cody Bellinger delivered a game-tying RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning. Kenley Jansen retired the side in order in the 10th.
Yasmani Grandal, who’d already hit a two-run home run, led off the bottom half of the inning with a base hit, and was promptly replaced by Stripling. He was nearly stranded as Watson struck out Chris Taylor and Yasiel Puig.
Pinch-hitting for Baez, Barnes lined the first pitch he saw into the right-center field gap. Stripling raced around the bases to give the Dodgers a fourth consecutive win. “I told Ross at about 3 o’clock that he was going to pinch-run,” manager Dave Roberts said.
“So he’d been stretching for about 7.5 hours.” While not the most graceful trek around the bases, Stripling covered plenty of ground in a short amount of time on Barnes’ walk-off double.
“Being on the bases for a pitcher isn’t the most comfortable thing in the world,” Barnes said. “Thankfully, he’s pretty fast.”
