The Los Angeles Dodgers returned from a bit of a disappointing road trip to face the same Arizona Diamondbacks team that won two of three games when the clubs met at Chase Field last week.
The Dodgers fell behind 3-0 by the second inning, battled back to tie it, then were one strike away from suffering a 4-3 loss. The defeat would have been the Dodgers’ fourth in their last five head-to-head games against the Diamondbacks.
Instead, L.A. made more franchise and MLB history. Just like their last time playing at Dodger Stadium.
Diamondbacks closer Greg Holland picked up two quick outs in the ninth inning and had Chris Taylor and the Dodgers down to their final strike. Holland wound up walking Taylor, putting the tying run on base and marking the start of an improbable sequence.
After getting ahead 0-2 on Taylor, 16 of Holland’s next 20 pitches were for ball. He walked Russell Martin, Alex Verdugo and Matt Beaty, bringing in the tying run. D-Backs manager Torey Lovullo had seen enough at that point, and called on T.J. McFarland to face Cody Bellinger.
The left-on-left matchup went in the Dodgers’ favor as McFarland walked in the winning run. The walk-off victory marked a fourth in a row at Dodger Stadium. As such, the 2019 Dodgers are the first team in franchise history with four-straight walk-off wins.
They additionally became the first team in MLB history to have a walk-off win come via five consecutive walks when being down to their final out.
The last team with four walk-off wins in a row was the 2004 Oakland Athletics, who had a streak of five from May 22-June 3, 2004. The last National League team to accomplish what the Dodgers have was the 1991 Philadelphia Phillies.
L.A. made history on their last homestand by having rookies hit walk-off home runs in back-to-back games. That mark was then extended by Will Smith when he helped the Dodgers complete a sweep of the Colorado Rockies with a walk-off homer of his own.
On top of extending the team’s all-time mark, Smith gave the Dodgers an MLB record four walk-off home runs hit by a rookie in a single season.
The Dodgers improved to 35-9 at Dodger Stadium and are on pace to shatter the MLB record for best home winning percentage.
