LOS ANGELES — On Friday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ late-game rally against the Chicago Cubs began after their starting pitcher blocked home plate.
Once down by three runs, the Dodgers completed a 4-3 victory in walk-off fashion, winning their fifth consecutive game on Will Smith’s RBI single in the bottom of the 10th.
And if not for Tyler Anderson’s block of home plate roughly an hour earlier, it might never have happened.
In the sixth inning, Anderson gave up a two-run double to the Cubs’ Ian Happ, stretching the visitors’ early 1-0 lead to 3-0.
Two batters later, Happ was standing at third base when Seiya Suzuki hit a chopper back to the mound. Happ went on contact. But Anderson fielded the ball cleanly to get him caught in a rundown.
After several throws in the pickle drew Smith up the third base line, Anderson found himself covering home plate. When Anderson received a throw from third baseman Justin Turner, Happ was still several steps away and appeared all but out.
Nonetheless, Happ lowered his shoulder and bulldozed his way into Anderson’s midsection. The pitcher held on for the tag. Then he angrily gave Happ a shove in the back as the Cubs runner tumbled to the ground.
Up until then, the Cubs had been in control.
But after the home-plate tussle between Happ and Anderson, who went on to give up three runs in a seven-inning start, the Dodgers finally came to life.
They scored one run in the sixth, after Freddie Freeman doubled and scored on a dropped fly ball from Suzuki in right. They drew within one in the seventh, thanks to Jake Lamb’s first home run as a Dodger.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers finally got it tied up at 3-3 thanks to a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Mookie Betts that nearly left the ballpark.
In the bottom of the 10th, Smith walked it off, lining a 2-and-2 fastball from Cubs reliever Rowan Wick into left for an RBI single.
It was the Dodgers’ second walk-off win of this homestand, during which they have won eight of nine games.
—Brusdal Graterol avoids injury
After leaving Thursday’s game early with a cramp in his side, Brusdar Graterol was feeling better Friday, according to manager Dave Roberts, and won’t need to go on the injured list.
“(In) catch play, he was letting it rip,” Roberts said. “He’s in a good spot.”
Roberts said the team was giving Graterol the day off Friday but more because of recent usage than any injury concerns.
“As far as where he’s at physically, he’s great,” Roberts said.
It was good news for the Dodgers, who have given Graterol a more prominent role recently in the wake of several other injuries in the bullpen.
While Graterol has a 3.52 ERA on the season, he has been excellent of late, giving up just two runs in his last 14 innings pitched.
—Craig Kimbrel looking for consistency
Craig Kimbrel is still the Dodgers’ closer.
But the questions about his inconsistent form the last two months continued to intensify Friday, a day after he failed to complete the ninth inning of a save opportunity because of a high pitch count.
“The inconsistencies, given who he is, I think we’re all surprised by that,” Roberts said.
Kimbrel’s outing Thursday raised his season ERA to 4.82 and walks plus hits per inning (WHIP) to 1.54, both of which are worst among any Dodgers pitcher with at least 10 appearances this season.
After starting his season with eight scoreless performances in his first nine outings, the right-hander has now given up at least one run in 11 of his last 21.
Roberts said Kimbrel’s biggest issue this year has been command of the curveball.
A two-pitch pitcher throughout his career, Kimbrel had increasingly relied more on his curveball, and less on his upper-90s mph fastball, over recent seasons. Last year, he threw the curveball more than 40% of the time, a personal high.
This season, however, his usage and effectiveness with the pitch have nosedived. He’s throwing it only 33.5% of the time now. It’s getting fewer outs and whiffs as well.
“The shape is different on almost every throw, and there’s a lot of non-competitive misses with the breaking ball,” Roberts said. “That will get your pitch count up, and obviously get you into some counts that you don’t want to be in. So I think that’s something that we got to kind of work together to harness and figure out some consistency.”
