The Los Angeles Dodgers went into Sunday looking to sweep the Washington Nationals after taking the previous two games in the series.
The game was delayed by more than two hours due to rain, and that seemingly delayed the Dodgers’ offense as well. But they eventually broke out and completed an MLB-best fifth comeback win by scoring seven unanswered runs.
Dodgers 8 – Nationals 6: key takeaways
Roki Sasaki remains inconsistent
Roki Sasaki was looking to build off his first start of the season, which provided some hope for him moving forward. But instead of taking another step, he saw a lot more of the same issues.
The first two innings were good as he only allowed a single and a walk while retiring six of the eight hitters he faced, and he was more efficient than he’s shown. Things went downhill in the third inning as he walked James Wood and then allowed a two-run homer to Luis García Jr. on a poorly located fastball up and in the middle of the zone.
Things continued to spiral in the fourth inning as he walked CJ Abrams and then allowed a single to Keibert Ruiz to score another run. That was the result of some bad luck as the baseball hit off the first base bag to allow Ruiz to reach base, but Sasaki did himself no favors with the walk and what followed.
After that, RBI, José Tena singled to put another runner on base, and then Sasaki left a hanging splitter in the middle of the zone to Wood, who crushed a three-run homer.
Sasaki bounced back in the fifth inning with a pair of strikeouts, but he still threw too many pitches out of the zone or poorly located in the zone.
Overall, he finished his day with five innings pitched, allowing six earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts and three walks.
Dodgers offense completes comeback
After scoring 23 runs in the first two games, the Dodgers only scoring eight runs may have been a letdown, but it was still enough to get them the win and come back from a 6-1 defecit.
Shohei Ohtani put them up 1-0 in the third inning with his solo shot, and Dalton Rushing added the second homer with in the sixth inning following a single from Alex Call.
Then in the eighth inning, the offense broke out for four runs to take the lead.
Freddie Freeman started them off with a single before Andy Pages doubled and Alex Call walked to load the bases. Santiago Espinal doubled in a pair to cut the defecit to just one run.
Following a walk from Will Smith, Kyle Tycker grounded into a force out that tied the game, and then Ohtani hit a sacrifice fly to put them ahead.
Teoscar Hernández slugged a solo homer in the ninth to provide some insurance.
Dodgers bullpen continues strong season
After Sasaki was out of the game, the Dodgers relied on Alex Vesia, Jack Dreyer, Tanner Scott and Edwin Díaz to pitch the final four innings. Each of them worked a scoreless frame, and as a unit, they only allowed two hits and two walks.
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