EPIC COMEBACK IN 9TH GIVES DODGERS ‘W’
Crawford’s Slam is 2nd Straight Game-Winner
MILWAUKEE, Aug. 9 (AP) – The Los Angeles Dodgers overcame a five-run ninth inning deficit with a seven-run outburst and went on to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 10-8 at Miller Park. Carl Crawford’s grand slam—the first grand slam of the season for any member of the Dodgers—produced the winning margin. It was the second straight day that Crawford had come up with a ninth-inning bases loaded hit to beat the Brewers, as Los Angeles overturned a 7-6 Brewers lead in the top of the ninth inning yesterday on Crawford’s infield single. On both occasions, Milwaukee reliever Francisco Rodriguez was charged with a blown save and loss.
The five-run margin is the largest a team has overcome in the ninth inning of a major league game this year. The previous high mark was three runs, accomplished by the Chicago Cubs who rallied to score four times in the bottom of the ninth inning after trailing the Chicago White Sox 4-1 after 8 ½ frames at Wrigley Field on May 5.
What made the Dodgers seven-run ninth inning—matching the club’s second biggest single frame outcome of the season, and the biggest single inning tally since the end of May—even more noteworthy is that it immediately followed Milwaukee’s five-run tie-breaking outburst in the bottom of the eighth.
The game was tightly contested right from the start. The Dodgers drew first blood when Dee Gordon led off the game with a base hit, stole his major league leading 45th base of the year and scored one out later on the first of Adrian Gonzalez’s two doubles. The Brewers got the run back in the bottom half of the first when Carlos Gomez led off with a two-bagger and score on Ryan Braun’s one-out single.
Milwaukee took the lead in the bottom of the second on Khris Davis’ 18th home run of the year, a solo shot, and increased the margin to 3-1 in the sixth when Aramis Ramirez’s base hit brought home Jonathan Lucroy, who had singled two batters earlier.
But the Dodgers tied the game up in the seventh. Juan Uribe opened the frame with a base hit and A.J. Ellis doubled to left, putting the tying runs in scoring position with no outs. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke, working with a tired bullpen, had been trying to squeeze a seventh inning out of Mike Fiers, who was making his first start of the season, but after the first two batters reached base he called Jeremy Jeffress in from the bullpen. Jeffress fanned pinch hitter Justin Turner but Andre Ethier, pinch hitting for starter Zack Greinke, singled to center, scoring Uribe and advancing Ellis to third. Dee Gordon then lifted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Ellis to tie the game.
That set the stage for the Milwaukee rally in the bottom of the eighth. Reliever Brandon League was beginning his second inning of work and yielded consecutive singles to Gomez, Lucroy and Braun, all of which left the Brewers on top 4-3 and runners on first and third with no outs. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly called on Carlos Frias to spell League, but it didn’t go well in the end, even though Frias retired Ramirez on a pop fly to second for the first out. Scooter Gennett followed with a base hit to center to score Lucroy and make it 5-3. Davis struck out but Rickie Weeks, sent up as a pinch hitter, walked to load the bases and then Frias uncorked a wild pitch, which advanced everyone 90 feet and put the Brewers on top 6-3. Jean Segura then applied what seemed to be the dagger with a base hit through the box, scoring both runners and putting Milwaukee on top 8-3. The game appeared all but over.
Brandon Kintzler took over on the mound for what seemed like mop up duty in the top of the ninth but immediately got into trouble, yielding base hits to Ellis and Turner. He struck out pitch hitter Scott Van Slyke, but Gordon followed by grounding a single into right field, loading the bases. With the tying run now in the on-deck circle, Roenicke did what he hoped he wouldn’t need to do—call on Rodriguez to close out the game. It would be the Brewers closer’s third straight day of game action and the fourth time in five days he’d appear on the mound. Yasiel Puig greeted Rodriguez with a base hit through the middle, scoring Turner to make it 8-4 and leaving the bases loaded. Gonzalez, representing the potential tying run, came to the plate and walked on five pitches, forcing in the fifth run and bringing the potential go-ahead run to the plate in the form of Matt Kemp. Murphy’s Law was on everyone’s mind when Kemp’s swinging bunt died on the infield grass up the third base line for a single, scoring another run. It was now 8-6 with the tying runs in scoring position. Crawford came to the plate and drove a 2-2 fastball to the opposite field and just over the left field wall for a turnaround grand slam. The sellout Miller Park crowd stood in stunned silence as Crawford circled the bases and the Los Angeles dugout went bananas. Rodriguez retired Turner and Ellis—both batting for the second time in the inning—on ground balls, but the damage had been done.
Kenley Jansen—also working on no rest—entered to close the game in the bottom of the ninth and he avoided any hint of dramatics, fanning Gomez, retiring Lucroy on a pop fly to right, and blowing a 2-2 cutter past Braun to end the game, recording his 31st save of the season in the process.
The Dodgers now hold a seven-game lead over the second place San Francisco Giants in the National League’s West Division.
8/9/2014, LAN14-Mil14, Miller Park
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2014 Dodgers 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 7 10 16 1 6 2
2014 Brewers 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 5 0 8 13 0 4 2
Dodgers AB R H BI AVG Brewers AB R H BI AVG
Gordon,D 2b 4 2 2 1 .249 Gomez,C cf 5 2 3 0 .272
Puig cf 5 1 2 1 .288 Lucroy c 5 2 2 0 .319
Gonzalez,Ad 1b 4 1 2 2 .280 Braun rf 5 1 3 2 .270
Kemp rf 4 1 2 1 .266 Ramirez,Ar 3b 3 0 1 1 .237
Crawford,C lf 5 1 1 4 .336 Gennett 2b 4 1 1 1 .311
Jansen p 0 0 0 0 .000 Davis,K lf 4 1 1 1 .249
Uribe 3b 5 1 2 0 .358 Reynolds 1b 3 0 1 0 .201
Ellis,A c 5 2 2 0 .167 Weeks,R ph 0 1 0 0 .253
Rojas ss 2 0 0 0 .102 Kintzler p 0 0 0 0 .000
Turner,Ju ph 2 1 1 0 .305 Rodriguez,Fr p 0 0 0 0 .000
Greinke p 1 0 1 0 .136 Segura ss 4 0 1 2 .222
Ethier ph 1 0 1 1 .227 Fiers p 2 0 0 0 .000
League p 0 0 0 0 .000 Jeffress p 0 0 0 0 .000
Frias p 0 0 0 0 .000 Parra,G ph 1 0 0 0 .252
Van Slyke ph 1 0 0 0 .260 Gorzelanny p 0 0 0 0 .000
39 10 16 10 Overbay ph 1 0 0 0 .260
37 8 13 7
Dodgers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Greinke 6.0 7 3 3 0 4 75 55 3.31
League 1.0 4 3 3 0 0 19 14 4.35
Frias W 1-0 1.0 2 2 2 1 1 19 10 7.71
Jansen S 31 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 14 10 1.96
9.0 13 8 8 1 7 127 89
Brewers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Fiers 6.0 8 3 3 2 3 93 54 2.08
Jeffress BS 1 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 19 12 3.38
Gorzelanny 1.0 1 0 0 0 2 20 13 2.50
Kintzler 0.1 3 3 3 0 1 10 9 5.36
Rodriguez,Fr BS 5, L 3-4 0.2 3 4 4 1 0 23 11 3.33
9.0 16 10 10 3 7 165 99
LAN: Turner,Ju batted for Rojas in the 7th
Ethier batted for Greinke in the 7th
Turner,Ju moved to ss in the 7th
Van Slyke batted for Frias in the 9th
Van Slyke moved to lf in the 9th
Mil: Parra,G batted for Jeffress in the 7th
Weeks,R batted for Reynolds in the 8th
Overbay batted for Gorzelanny in the 8th
Overbay moved to 1b in the 9th
E-Ellis,A. 2B-Gonzalez,Ad 2(33), Ellis,A(5), Gomez,C(28). HR-Crawford,C(6),
Davis,K(18). RBI-Gordon,D(49), Puig(54), Gonzalez,Ad 2(79), Kemp(51),
Crawford,C 4(35), Ethier(26), Braun 2(49), Ramirez,Ar(32), Gennett(51),
Davis,K(55), Segura 2(33). SB-Gordon,D(45), Kemp(5). CS-Puig, Gomez,C.
K-Puig, Gonzalez,Ad, Crawford,C 2, Ellis,A, Turner,Ju, Van Slyke, Gomez,C 2,
Braun, Gennett 2, Davis,K, Fiers. BB-Gonzalez,Ad, Kemp, Greinke, Weeks,R.
SF-Gordon,D. HBP-Ramirez,Ar. HB-Greinke. WP-Frias.
GWRBI: Crawford,C
Temperature: 79, Sky: cloudy, Wind: out to left at 9 MPH.
Attendance: 42,279
Game Time: 3:05