The Los Angeles Dodgers put together another thrilling comeback but ultimately came up short in a 6-5 loss to the Houston Astros in 11 innings. The Dodgers fell to 3-2 in extra innings this season, while the Astros picked up their first win in seven chances.
Mookie Betts got the Dodgers off on the right foot with his second leadoff home run of the series. Betts would’ve finished with a leadoff homer in every game against the Astros if Corey Julks did not rob him of one on Saturday.
Betts’ long ball on Sunday gave him 44 career leadoff home runs, which tied with Brady Anderson for eight-most all-time in MLB history. Betts also is in second place for the Dodgers’ record of most leadoff home runs in a single season with eight.
Joc Pederson holds the Dodgers’ franchise record with nine leadoff homers hit during the 2019 season.
The Dodgers then were held scoreless for several innings after Betts provided them with a lead that Tony Gonsolin immediately surrendered. Jeremy Peña put the Astros ahead with their first two-run home run of the game. José Abreu added onto the lead with his two-run blast in the fourth inning.
Peña and Abreu both hit their home run on a splitter that didn’t have much break and sat over the middle of the plate. Gonsolin went into the start having allowed four home runs on his splitter over the past three years combined.
Gonsolin wound up pitching just five innings and his fastball velocity averaged 91.4 mph, the second-lowest of any start in his career. Gonsolin previously averaged a career-worst 91.1 mph on his fastball against the Chicago White Sox on June 13.
A stable of Dodgers relief pitchers kept the Astros at bay over four innings, and their work was eventually rewarded.
Freddie Freeman started the rally with a two-out RBI double in the eighth inning that trimmed into the deficit and gave him 2,000 career hits. Will Smith followed by driving a home run out to center field to tie the game.
Brusdar Graterol gave up an RBI single on his first pitch of extra innings, and found himself in a situation with runners at the corners and nobody out. However, Martín Maldonad’s sacrifice bunt turned into a double play when Julks inexplicably was caught in a rundown between third base and home plate.
The Astros not scoring more than a run kept the game going beyond the 10th inning as Betts’ sacrifice fly tied it in the bottom half.
Houston managed just one run again in the 11th, but that held up as Smith, Miguel Vargas and David Peralta couldn’t deliver.
Dodgers not concerned with Tony Gonsolin
Despite Gonsolin’s fastball velocity being inconsistent throughout much of this season and manager Dave Roberts recently revealing he was having trouble recovering between starts, there doesn’t appear to be much concern with the right-hander.
“The last outing and then this one, in between starts, has been really good actually,” Roberts said before the game.
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