Heading into Tuesday’s matchup between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies the spotlight was squarely on Julio Urias, but Trayce Thompson ultimately took center stage.
Urias took the mound for his third career Major League start, but first at Dodger Stadium. Justin Turner‘s three-run home run in the first inning spotted the 19-year-old lefty an early lead to work with, and he exited after four innings with the Dodgers ahead 3-1.
Eddie Butler settled in and largely kept the Dodgers off the bases. Meanwhile, Colorado scored two runs in the seventh inning to force a 3-3 tie.
Kenley Jansen came on in the ninth and worked around a leadoff walk to to put the Dodgers in position for a walk off-win. After Boone Logan retired pinch-hitter Austin Barnes, and Adrian Gonzalez, he gave way to Carlos Estevez.
The right-hander entered to face Thompson, who stepped to the plate 0-for-2 on the night with one walk. Thompson took a first-pitch strike, then lined the next pitch over the left field fence for his second career walk-off home run:
Thompson said after the win he didn’t believe he put enough of a swing on the pitch for it to carry it. He added the high-pressure at-bat is a situation he relishes and isn’t afraid of failure.
Thompson leads the Dodgers in slugging percentage (.566), on-base plus slugging (.922) and is second with 10 home runs.