The Los Angeles Dodgers erased a 4-1 deficit against the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night when Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger both took Mariners reliever Alex Colome deep in the eighth inning, and the Max Muncy homered off closer Edwin Diaz in the ninth.
That eventually sent the game into extra innings but it all ended up being for naught as the Dodgers were not able to score in the 10th and then the Mariners came away with a walk-off victory on a bases-loaded balk by reliever Dylan Floro.
The balk was a questionable call as Floro barely flinched before stepping off the mound when the runner at third base, Cameron Maybin, deked him after he came set.
One person who didn’t agree with the call was Turner. The veteran third baseman criticized the umpires for it after the game, via Pedro Moura of The Athletic:
“That’s the worst part about tonight: It was decided by an umpire,” Justin Turner said. “Let the players handle it and determine the outcome.”
— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) August 19, 2018
This marked the second time this season that a late-inning balk cost the Dodgers. Pedro Baez fell off the mound on April 27 against the San Francisco Giants, resulting in another loss.
While it is certainly unfortunate to lose that way and easy to see why Turner is frustrated after the Dodgers fought so hard to come back, the balk call appeared to be the right one.
Turner had another solid night at the plate for the Dodgers though, with the home run extending his hitting streak to 12 games. So there certainly were positives to take away from the loss for Los Angeles even though it did come in heart-breaking fashion.
