The day started with a couple of Shohei Ohtani home runs. It continued with a strong 5 ⅔ inning start from Clayton Kershaw. And it ended with the Dodgers in a celebratory postgame line, trading victorious high-fives near the mound.
After five consecutive losses, several weeks of mounting frustration, and the most painful collapse imaginable the night before, the Dodgers took a crucial first step toward righting their sinking ship on Sunday.
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They beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-2, finally finding a way to hold on to a late-game lead.
They ended an otherwise disastrous road trip on a sorely needed high note, avoiding what would have been a second-consecutive series sweep to a last-place opponent.
Read more: Yoshinobu Yamamoto falls one out short of a no-hitter, then Dodgers lose in Orioles walk-off
“It’s not a surprise how we responded,” manager Dave Roberts said. “There was no panic. There was just preparation. I like the way that our guys weren’t downtrodden. We were up, looking forward to playing a ball game, to win a game. And that’s a tell that we have confidence still in the room. It speaks to the character.”
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Indeed, Sunday was the kind of day the Dodgers (79-64) were desperately searching for amid their recent struggles, which reached a new low when their no-hitter turned walk-off nightmare on Saturday trimmed their division lead down to just one game.
That game, in which Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a no-hitter broken up with two outs in the ninth before the Orioles (66-77) rallied for a stunning walk-off win, was the kind of loss that threatened to throw the Dodgers into an all-out nose-dive; an unthinkable defeat that, on top of their previously mounting frustrations, turned Sunday into yet another gut-check for the long-slumping club (which entered Sunday 10 games under .500 since July 4).
“It was a tough loss yesterday,” shortstop Mookie Betts said. “Especially what Yoshi did, everybody was so excited and happy for him. And to lose, that was tough. So it was pretty down.”
Sunday morning, however, Betts said the mood in the clubhouse had rebounded.
Shohei Ohtani, right, celebrates with Freddie Freeman after hitting a home run in the first inning Sunday against Baltimore. (Terrance Williams / Associated Press)
“There’s a lot of vets in here and a lot of guys that know how to handle bad situations,” he said. “So this morning everything was great. The vibes were high.”
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And then, two pitches into the game, Ohtani raised them even higher, belting his 12th leadoff home run of the season off fellow Japanese native Tomoyuki Sugano to tie Betts’ single-season franchise record.
“You could see the life in the dugout,” Roberts said.
“Shohei jump-starting, it lets us know we’re fine,” Betts added.
On Ohtani’s next trip to the plate, the two-way star went deep again, blasting his 48th home run of the year on a 2-and-0 fastball Sugano left over the plate. Then, in the next at-bat, Betts left the yard himself with a drive to left.
Just like that, the Dodgers had a 3-0 lead — and later it extended to 4-0 on a lucky break, when Miguel Rojas scored from third on an errant pickoff throw from Baltimore catcher Alex Jackson in the fourth.
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“We haven’t gotten a break like that in a while,” Roberts quipped. “Miggy is playing his tail off. So for us to get a break like that, that was something that was very welcome and very needed.”
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw delivers in the third inning against the Orioles on Sunday. (Terrance Williams / Associated Press)
So too were the closing innings of the game, in which the Dodgers finally got across the finish line behind a stout (if not entirely stress-free) performance from the pitching staff.
As he has done repeatedly this year, Kershaw served as a stopper to another Dodgers slide, setting a new season high with eight strikeouts while giving up just two hits through his first five innings.
“Obviously a tough one last night, but everybody came in here with a good mindset. Everybody came in here ready to win a game today,” Kershaw said. “That’s the great thing about baseball, and the worst thing about baseball — that you play every day. It’s a new opportunity every day. And sometimes it’s hard. But that’s why not everybody plays it. You’ve got to put on your big boy pants and go play.”
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Kershaw got knocked out of the game in the sixth, following a Gunnar Henderson single and RBI double from Emmanuel Rivera with two outs. Rookie right-hander Edgardo Henriquez flirted with disaster after that, giving up another RBI double to Jackson and a loud fly ball to Dylan Carlson that died at the warning track.
But from there, the Dodgers settled back down.
Another rookie, left-hander Justin Wrobleski, provided two critical innings of scoreless relief, striking out the final five batters he faced after putting two aboard in the seventh.
“I felt the team needed a jolt or something,” Wrobleski said. “Thankfully, I was able to go out there and feel really good and do what I wanted to.”
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The Dodgers tacked on an insurance run in the ninth, when Betts hit an RBI single off the wall (he was held to just the one base after not hustling out of the box) following a leadoff single from catcher Ben Rortvedt and a walk from Ohtani (his third of the day, reaching base in all five trips to the plate).
“Certainly, when you get Shohei and Mookie doing what they’re doing, that’s also helpful too,” Roberts said.
And after being walked off by the Orioles each of the first two nights at Camden Yards this weekend, the Dodgers avoided any further fireworks in the ninth, with rookie left-hander Jack Dreyer coming on for his third save of the season.
“It’s good for other guys, or certain guys, to get opportunities and see how they respond,” Roberts said, after staying away from more veteran, but recently struggling, relievers like Blake Treinen, Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott.
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Granted, one win will put only the slightest dent in the damage the past week has already done.
Read more: Despite emergency help from Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers lose again: ‘Truly have no answers’
Instead of extending their National League West lead and making a run for a top-two seed in the NL, the Dodgers let the San Diego Padres (who have also been slumping) hang around in the division and the Philadelphia Phillies (who currently hold the No. 2 seed, which comes with a first-round bye in the playoffs) pull away in the standings.
Instead of capitalizing upon a weak spot in the schedule, they will return home with a 1-5 record against two last-place teams, having again reverted back to their $400 million roster’s most frustrating form.
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However, given the way Saturday ended, the season was starting to feel dangerously close to the brink. Sunday’s win, for at least one day, helped calm the waters. Now, they have to figure out a way to rise instead of sink.
“That’s really all you can do: Keep showing up, keep going on the field, keep playing,” Kershaw said. “We’re too good for it not to turn around.”
Muncy set to return; Smith, Glasnow progressing
When the Dodgers return home Monday to face another last-place team in the Colorado Rockies, they’ll do with a key reinforcement waiting. Roberts said third baseman Max Muncy, who has missed almost a month with an oblique injury, is expected to be activated for Monday’s series opener.
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“I think that’s going to be helpful,” Roberts said.
Catcher Will Smith, who has missed the past four games with a bone bruise on his hand, is also getting closer to returning to the lineup, and was available off the bench Sunday. Starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow, meanwhile, is expected to make a start against the Rockies, as well, after doctors cleared him following a bout of back tightness that forced him to be scratched on Friday.
“We dodged a bullet,” Roberts said, “so we feel good about that.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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