Trea Turner looked plenty comfortable in the leadoff spot of the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup, but they also needed Cody Bellinger and Chris Taylor in a 5-3 win over the L.A. Angels to set the stage for a Freeway Series rubber match.
After drawing a walk to open the bottom of the first inning, Turner flashed tremendous speed as he scored on Max Muncy’s double to the left-center field gap. Turner’s 30.6 feet per second covered around the bases was elite, but technically below his season average (30.7 feet/second).
Corey Seager added an RBI single before Jaime Barria could get through the first inning.
That’s not to say the Dodgers didn’t have opportunities, as they stranded at least one baserunner from the third through fifth innings. Perhaps most costly was having two in scoring position with one out in the fourth, only for Bellinger’s woes to continue as he popped-out and Julio Urias be robbed of a hit.
After pitching through traffic in the first and second innings, Urias was unable to continue that trend in the third. David Fletcher and Jose Iglesias started the Angels’ comeback with back-to-back doubles that cut the Dodgers’ lead in half.
Phil Gosselin then followed those with a game-tying RBI single. The Dodgers were on the verge of keeping the game tied, but no one took charge of a pop-up in the infield and it wound up falling and allowing the go-ahead run to score.
The two runs were all Barria allowed until the seventh inning when he surrendered a game-tying solo home run to Bellinger.
Brusdar Graterol electrified Dodger Stadium by striking out pinch-hitter Shohei Ohtani to end the eighth inning and strand two runners.
That led to singles by Corey Seager and Will Smith setting the table for Taylor to deliver what held as a game-winning, two-run double.
Kenley Jansen built on a perfect inning in the series opener to convert the save.
Dodgers keep pace
After failing to pick up a full game on the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers avoided falling further behind in the National League West standings on Saturday. The Giants were on the verge of a second consecutive defeat but a dropped fly ball on the potential last out of the game led to a victory in extra innings.
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