Designated hitter Max Muncy came to the rescue for the Los Angeles Dodgers, helping them secure a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
After putting the Dodgers on the scoreboard with a homerun in the eighth inning, he earned a walk with bases loaded in the ninth. Jason Heyward and Mookie Betts singled and Freddie Freeman walked. Will Smith’s hit flew out before Muncy’s at bat.
“There’s so many different ways you can win a game, that last inning for us proved it,” Muncy said. “We had a bunch of guys just taking good at bats, just trying to string something together and not let the moment get too big.”
Clayton Kershaw returned to the mound for the first time since June and pitched for five innings in the matchup. He struck out four batters in the first two innings. However, he allowed a home run by designated hitter Elehuris Montero.
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Dodgers general manager Dave Roberts noted how Kershaw expected a lot from himself.
“I know [Kershaw], he wants to be a part of this, he knows how special this group is. He wants to contribute,” Roberts said. “My thought is just go out there and be yourself and you don’t have to do it on your own and today, he sort of did for five innings but we scored late and it was a good day all around.”
Out of his 67 pitches, 45 were strikes. He even pitched a few change-ups.
“I threw it four times and it’s like I threw it a million times,” Kershaw said with a laugh. “I threw four of them and three of them were actually okay. I don’t know, maybe I’ll use it four or five times a game.”
This season, Kershaw has made a total of 109 strikeouts. Muncy mentioned how seeing Kershaw pitch is a “boost” for the Dodgers.
“Anytime 22 is on the mound, you have a good feeling about how the game is gonna turn out,” Muncy said. “It’s just fun to be on the same field as that guy.”
The Dodgers continue to build their dominance in the NL West with a 68-46 overall record, they now are six wins ahead of the San Francisco Giants.
This is the first game Ryan Yarbrough pitched in a Dodgers uniform. He got Ezequiel Tovar out as he tried to steal second base in the sixth. It was Yarbrough’s second attempt to get Tovar out.
“The first one was kind of let him know we’re keeping an eye on you and then [Tovar] just kept dancing over there,” Yarbrough said. “I don’t think it really struck me until after we picked him off that it was the third one.”
Roberts was also proud of the talents of Kiké Hernández at third base, recalling went he got Jurickson Profar out in the ninth.
“[Hernandez] hasn’t played a lot of third base, so to be able to pencil him in there at third base was huge,” Roberts said. “To play the way he did and even in that ninth inning, to make that play he did off of Profar’s back, it just adds to that versatility and it’s a big part of games.”
