The Los Angeles Dodgers looked to avoid being swept by the Miami Marlins in their four-game series, with Thursday’s game marking the first time fellow countrymen Kenta Maeda and Ichiro Suzuki faced one another.
Prior to reaching that point, Maeda gave up a one-out double to Martin Prado. However the right-hander successfully tackled the daunting task of facing Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton to put a scoreless first inning in the books.
Jose Fernandez quickly found himself in trouble in the bottom half of the first, giving up a leadoff single to Chase Utley and walking Corey Seager to put two on with none out. After Adrian Gonzalez struck out, Yasmani Grandal drove an RBI double to center field.
Yasiel Puig drove in another run on a jam shot that landed behind the mound. Carl Crawford grounded into an inning-ending double play, but the Dodgers took a 2-0 lead to the second inning.
Maeda recorded back-to-back strikeouts in the second frame, the second of which was Ichiro, who went down on an off-balance swing. However, J.T. Realmuto cut the Dodgers’ lead in half with a line-drive home run to right-center field.
Maeda worked around a two-out single in the third, ending the inning by collecting his third strikeout of the game. Utley drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the third and went first to third base on Seager’s base hit to center.
However, both runners were stranded as Fernandez struck out the side — Gonzalez, Grandal and Puig. Maeda struck out Stanton swinging to open the fourth. Justin Bour then drew a walk, but was stranded by Suzuki and Realmuto.
CONTINUE READING: Pedro Baez has forgetful sequence in seventh inning, rally falls short
Crawford grounded out in the bottom of the fourth, and Howie Kendrick and Joc Pederson went down swinging to give Fernandez six strikeouts up to that point. Utley and Seager again proved to be a potent combination with the former reaching on a walk, and the latter smacking a base hit to right.
Gonzalez’s tapper back to the mound did move both runners into scoring position, but that’s where they remained as Grandal struck out swinging to end the inning. Yelich slapped a one-out single to left field in the sixth and was stranded by Stanton and Bour.
Meanwhile, Fernandez continued to silence the Dodgers, setting them down in order in the bottom of the sixth. Realmuto and Adeiny Hechavarria combined for consecutive one-out base hits in the seventh inning.
Maeda struck out pinch-hitter Derek Dietrich, but gave up a game-tying RBI single to Gordon. Pedro Baez and Kiké Hernandez entered as part of a double switch, with Maeda and Kendrick exiting.
Baez promptly gave up an RBI single to Prado, then balked in another run before managing to get out of the inning. With the Dodgers suddenly trailing by two runs, Justin Turner opened the bottom of the seventh with a pinch-hit single.
He was erased on a force out at second base, but the Dodgers then had a second runner reach with one out as Utley was hit by a pitch. Seager struck out swinging and Gonzalez reached on a grounder to Gordon that the second baseman booted and threw late to the bag.
However, Utley was caught too far off second base and got back-picked to end the inning with the Dodgers still trailing 4-2. Stanton added to Baez’s woes by leading off the eighth with a home run to right-center field.
Trayce Thompson pinch-hit for Louis Coleman in the bottom of the ninth and hit a leadoff single to center. Turner followed with a line drive that skipped off A.J. Ramos’ glove and got by lunging attempts from Hechavarria and Gordon to roll into center field, leaving runners on the corners.
Thompson scored on a Ramos wild pitch, but that was all the Dodgers managed to get and lost, 5-3.