Wednesday’s contest between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals ended in unprecedented and dramatic fashion as a Yasiel Puig base hit in the ninth inning resulted in him scoring on a two-run single and Michael Taylor error.
Puig’s Little League home run, if you will, gave the Dodgers a three-game sweep of the Nationals, and extended their winning streak to six games. The night began with Chase Utley scoring the 1,000th run of his career.
Utley led off the bottom of the first with a single, which was followed by a Corey Seager base hit. Utley tagged on a Justin Turner fly ball and soon after crossed the milestone on a wild pitch.
The video board at Dodger Stadium flashed a congratulatory message for the veteran infielder, who was coaxed into a curtain call by the crowd:
“That was very cool. I definitely wasn’t expecting that,” Utley said of the curtain call. He became the 329th Major-Leaguer and 13th active player to score 1,000 runs in his career. He’s the first to do it in a Dodgers uniform since Devon White in May 1999.
“To be honest with you, I wasn’t really thinking about it. Yeah, obviously it’s a cool accomplishment,” Utley said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to be on good teams that can swing the bat. It’s more of a team accomplishment than a personal one.”
Of his career runs scored, only 51 have come with the Dodgers since he joined the club last August. Utley had recent competition as Carl Crawford was also closing in on the plateau. Crawford, who was released from the organization June 13, eight days after being designated for assignment, has scored 998 runs.
The Dodgers’ series with the Nationals included another milestone reached as Kenley Jansen moved into first place on the club’s all-time saves leaders list. Jansen was honored during a pregame ceremony the night after breaking Eric Gagné’s record.
