The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the L.A. Angels for the second consecutive night in the Freeway Series, although this time it took extra innings as they came back to earn a 6-5 victory in 10 innings.
After the Angels jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a home run by Mike Trout, the Dodgers answered right back in the second as they loaded the bases on a single by Cody Bellinger and walks by Max Muncy and Kiké Hernandez.
It looked like they were going to strand a trio of baserunners, but Mookie Betts came up with a big two-out hit to tie the game.
Muncy then broke out of his slump in the third, driving home two of his own on an opposite-field single. That scored Bellinger, who had singled again, and Chris Taylor, who reached on a double into the gap.
The Angels eventually battled back and took a 5-4 lead, although Betts came up big for the Dodgers once again as he led off the top of the seventh with a solo home run to center field. Betts now has a team-best eight home runs, which is one off from the Major League lead.
With the game eventually going into extra innings, Taylor started at second base to begin the top of the 10th. He was able to steal third right away, which set the stage for Muncy hitting a sacrifice fly to give the Dodgers a decided 6-5 lead.
Jansen, Dodgers bullpen shut down door
Walker Buehler didn’t have his finest performance on the mound, allowing five runs (four earned) in 4.2 innings of work. As has been the case all season though, the Dodgers’ bullpen was flawless backing him up.
Caleb Ferguson was the first out of the bullpen and threw 1.1 shutout innings, followed by Brusdar Graterol doing the same. Jake McGee then pitched 1.2 scoreless innings to continue his stellar start to the season and send the game into extra innings.
Kenley Jansen entered with a one-run lead in the 10th, looking for his sixth save of the season. With the new rule that a runner starts on second base, there was no margin for error, and Jansen was up to the challenge.
He got a short fly ball to right field to start off the inning, and then got back-to-back strikeouts to end the game, including getting Trout looking on three pitches to finish it.
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