Jason Heyward hit a three-run pinch-hit home run to right field in the eighth inning on Tuesday night to break a tie and lead the Dodgers to a 6-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners in front of 48,395 at Chavez Ravine.
The third pinch-hit home run of his 15-year career may have saved Heyward from his Dodgers job, too. The Dodgers must soon decide who will replace all-rounder Chris Taylor when he comes off the injured list. Heyward, outfielder Kevin Kiermaier and all-rounder Kiké Hernández are the most vulnerable players.
The score was tied at 3-3 when Will Smith was hit by a pitch with one out in the eighth and Max Muncy walked. Tommy Edman struck out, but Heyward turned fiercely on a 99-mph fastball at the top of the zone from Mariners reliever Anthony Munoz and sent a 108-mph laser over the short wall in right field for a 6-3 lead.
The Dodgers had cut a 3-0 deficit to 3-2 when Gavin Lux and Muncy both hit solo home runs in the fourth inning. Lux hit a 390-foot shot to center field to continue his month-long streak and Muncy hit a 407-foot shot to the back of the right-field bullpen for his second home run in two games since returning from an oblique injury.
Lux was hitting .211 with a .556 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, three homers, eight doubles and 24 RBIs in 79 games through July 19. In the 29 games since then, the second baseman has hit .372 (35 for 94) with seven homers, 10 doubles and 21 RBIs, raising his season average to .254 and his OPS to .713.
The Dodgers tied the score at 3-3 in the seventh inning when Edman led off with a double to right-center and scored on a crucial RBI double to left by Mookie Betts with two outs.
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Freddie Freeman was walked intentionally and Teoscar Hernández singled to right, but Seattle outfielder Mitch Haniger threw the ball through the air to catcher Cal Raleigh just in time to get Betts to bat and end the inning.
Five Dodgers relievers — Alex Vesia, Ryan Brasier, Anthony Banda, Joe Kelly and Daniel Hudson — combined to give up just one hit in five scoreless innings behind struggling starter Walker Buehler, helping the Dodgers maintain their three-game lead over San Diego and four games over Arizona in the National League West.
Buehler needed three pitches to get two outs and 79 pitches to get 10 more. That’s a good indication of how Tuesday night went for the right-handed pitcher, who has struggled to regain his pre-surgery form.
Buehler struggled through a four-inning, three-run, seven-hit, 82-pitch start in which he struck out one, walked three and struggled with his control. It was his second shaky outing in a row since returning from a right hip injury last week.
Buehler returned from his second Tommy John surgery in early May, going 1-4 with a 5.84 ERA in eight starts that saw him belt 10 home runs in 37 innings. He injured his hip in mid-June and spent several weeks of his two-month absence at a private training facility in Florida in an attempt to “get those feelings back.”
But when he returned to Milwaukee on August 14, he needed 87 pitches to record 10 outs in a 3 ⅓-inning game in which he allowed four runs (one earned) and three hits, struck out three, walked four and threw first-pitch strikes to seven of 17 batters in a 5–4 loss.
“I think I’m going to strike one tonight,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “It’s no secret that when a pitcher gets ahead in the count, he has a lot more success. When he [his first-strike rate] somewhere around 60%, then it will be an easier path for him.”
Buehler actually did better by leading the count. He struck out 14 of the 21 batters he faced on the first pitch. But six of the at-bats in which he struck out on the first pitch resulted in hits or walks.
Read more: How Bobby Miller and Walker Buehler Try to Find Their Way Back into the Dodgers’ Playoff Plans
After giving up a two-out double to Raleigh and letting Luke Raley and Randy Arozarena walk to load the bases, he jumped in front of Jorge Polanco with an 0-and-2 count. Polanco then hit a 1-2 sinker to right for a two-run single and a 2-0 lead.
With two on and one out in the third, Buehler found himself back in front of Polanco with an 0-2 count. Polanco hit a 1-2 changeup to left-center field for an RBI double and a 3-0 lead.
Buehler limited the damage well in the third inning by getting Haniger to tag the plate and Josh Rojas to ground out to first with runners on second and third to end the inning.
Buehler allowed one hit in a scoreless fourth inning, an inning in which he berated plate umpire CB Bucknor over a foul pitch to Julio Rodriguez that was ruled a ball, but his pitch count was too high to start the fifth inning.
Short jumps
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has been out since June 16 with a rotator cuff injury, will pitch to batters in a two-inning simulated game on Wednesday. Roberts said the right-handed pitcher needs one more three-inning simulated game before going on a minor league rehab assignment. … The Dodgers moved reliever Blake Treinen’s return from the injured list from Tuesday night to Wednesday night in order to keep long-range reliever Ben Casparius playing one more game.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
