DODGERS EKE PAST BRAVES IN 17-INNING MARATHON
Gordon Drives Home Game-Winner
ATLANTA, Aug. 14 (AP) – Dee Gordon’s double in the top of the 17th drove home Scott Van Slyke with the tie-breaking run and the Los Angeles Dodgers survived a white knuckle bottom half of the inning to outlast the Atlanta Braves 5-4 at Turner Field. Of the more than 1800 games that have been played in major league baseball thus far this season, this was only the fourth to reach the 17th inning. The longest contest of the year, a 19-inning affair, also featured the Dodgers, who defeated the Colorado Rockies 2-1 at Dodger Stadium on June 17.
Things seemed ordinary enough at the outset. With one out in the top of the first, Yasiel Puig doubled—the first of his three hits on the day—and scored on Adrian Gonzalez’s base hit to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead. The Braves countered in the bottom of the frame when Jason Heyward led off with a single, stole second base, advanced to third on Emilio Bonifacio’s ground out and scored on Freddie Freeman’s infield roller, tying the game.
The Dodgers broke the tie in the top of the fourth. Miguel Rojas singled with one out and advanced to second on Drew Butera’s base hit. Los Angeles starter Roberto Hernandez, making his second start for the Dodgers after being acquired in a trade from the Phillies on August 8, sacrificed the runners to second and third and Gordon came up with the first of his run-scoring hits with a single to center field, scoring both runners. Gordon then stole second base and scored when Puig doubled to the gap in right-center. The game moved to the bottom of the fourth with the Dodgers on top, 4-1.
The Braves began their comeback in the bottom of the inning. Freeman led off with a double and advanced to third when Justin Upton flied to the warning track in left. Chris Johnson’s ground out scored Freeman to cut the deficit to 4-2.
Atlanta tied the game in the sixth and, as usual, Freeman was right in the middle of it. Heyward led off with a walk and stole his second base of the game. Bonifacio grounded to second, advancing Heyward to third. The Dodgers kept the infield back, conceding the run, but it didn’t matter. Freeman fell behind Hernandez 0-2 but picked out a mistake and drove it down the right field line, just inside the foul pole, for his 19th home run of the year, tying the game.
Things quieted down considerably from that point on. Hernandez worked through the seventh for Los Angeles, but was replaced by Brandon League to begin the bottom of the eighth. Heyward was hit by a pitch to open the inning and Bonifacio followed with a base hit to right, putting runners on the corners with no outs. With Freeman up, the Braves seemed poised to take the lead, and the Dodgers brought the infield in. League was clearly pitching around Freeman, who became uncharacteristically impatient and chased an 0-1 pitch that was well out of the strike zone, tapping the ball to short. Heyward had to draw a throw, to avoid a double play, and was caught in a rundown and tagged out between third and home before the other Atlanta baserunners had a chance to advance. Immediately after Freeman’s fielder’s choice, League induced Upton to roll into a double play. A golden opportunity to take the lead heading into the ninth had been snuffed out.
The Dodgers hadn’t managed a hit since Puig’s RBI double in the fourth, but put a threat together in the top of the 10th when Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier lined consecutive two-out singles, but Braves reliever David Carpenter struck out Juan Uribe on three pitches to end the inning. Atlanta managed to put two on with two out in the bottom half the inning but Jamie Wright rose to the occasion by fanning Upton to advance the game into the 11th.
The Braves had a comparable chance in the 15th when Bonifacio drew a two-out walk from J.P. Howell and advanced to third on Freeman’s base hit to right, but, again, Upton fanned to end the inning.
David Hale was in his third inning of relief when the Dodgers came to bat in the top of the 17th and walked Van Slyke on a 3-2 pitch to open the inning. Van Slyke then swiped second base and Gordon followed with a line drive that reached the wall in right-center. Van Slyke scored easily to give the Dodgers a 5-4 lead but Gordon was a bit reckless and was cut down at third trying to stretch a double into a triple. That appeared to be consequential when, after Puig grounded out, Gonzalez waked and Kemp dumped a base hit into right, putting runners on first and second with two outs. Ethier rolled out to short. Los Angeles had the lead, but it was only one run.
Kenley Jansen had retired all four batters he faced, but was lifted for Van Slyke. The Dodgers, ostensibly out of relievers, were forced to bring the recently acquired Kevin Correia, who had dropped his Los Angeles debut—to the Braves, no less—just three days earlier, into the game in the bottom half of the 17th for his first relief appearance of the season. At first, everything seemed fine. Gerald Laird bounced out to short and Correia made swift work of Phillip Gosselin, striking him out on three pitches. But Heyward’s swinging bunt when for an infield hit, and Bonifacio followed by dropping a bloop double inside the left field line, advancing Heyward to third. The tying and winning runs were now in scoring position, with the dangerous Freeman due up. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly didn’t mess around. With first base open and Upton—who was 0-for-7 with three strikeouts on deck--Mattingly raised four fingers and Freeman was walked intentionally, loading the bases. The count to Upton moved to 2-1 and Correia induced the Braves left fielder to ground to Gordon at second to end the game.
8/14/2014, LAN14-Atl14, Turner Field
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2014 Dodgers 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2014 Braves 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 14 15 16 17 R H E LOB DP
2014 Dodgers 0 0 0 0 1 5 11 1 12 1
2014 Braves 0 0 0 0 0 4 11 1 12 3
Dodgers AB R H BI AVG Braves AB R H BI AVG
Gordon,D 2b 7 1 2 3 .253 Heyward rf 6 2 2 0 .265
Puig cf 6 1 3 1 .289 Bonifacio cf 7 0 2 0 .238
Gonzalez,Ad 1b 6 0 1 1 .276 Freeman,F 1b 6 2 3 3 .318
Kemp rf 7 0 2 0 .264 Upton,J lf 8 0 0 0 .235
Ethier lf 7 0 1 0 .226 Johnson,C 3b 4 0 1 1 .244
Correia p 0 0 0 0 .167 Upton,B pr 3 0 0 0 .210
Uribe 3b 6 0 0 0 .352 La Stella 2b 5 0 1 0 .241
Rojas ss 7 1 1 0 .113 Simmons,A ss 4 0 1 0 .219
Butera c 7 1 1 0 .151 Carpenter,DD p 0 0 0 0 .000
Hernandez,R p 2 0 0 0 .119 Walden p 0 0 0 0 .000
League p 0 0 0 0 .000 Pena,R ph 1 0 0 0 .233
Crawford,C ph 1 0 0 0 .337 Russell p 0 0 0 0 .000
Wilson,Br p 0 0 0 0 .000 Gattis ph 1 0 0 0 .292
Wright,J p 0 0 0 0 .200 Hale p 1 0 0 0 .071
Turner,Ju ph 1 0 0 0 .316 Laird c 7 0 1 0 .171
Frias p 0 0 0 0 .000 Harang p 2 0 0 0 .106
Barney ph 1 0 0 0 .236 Avilan p 0 0 0 0 .000
Howell p 0 0 0 0 1.000 Doumit ph 1 0 0 0 .216
Jansen p 0 0 0 0 .000 Varvaro p 0 0 0 0 .000
Van Slyke ph 0 1 0 0 .263 Kimbrel p 0 0 0 0 .000
58 5 11 5 Gosselin 3b 4 0 0 0 .182
60 4 11 4
Dodgers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Hernandez,R 7.0 5 4 4 1 5 86 59 4.73
League 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 14 8 4.09
Wilson,Br 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 9 7 3.95
Wright,J 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 21 12 2.91
Frias 3.0 1 0 0 0 3 34 23 3.60
Howell 1.2 1 0 0 2 1 29 13 0.91
Jansen W 2-2 1.1 0 0 0 0 3 14 12 1.86
Correia S 1 1.0 2 0 0 1 1 19 11 5.07
17.0 11 4 4 5 15 226 145
Braves INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Harang 6.0 7 4 4 3 5 101 66 3.46
Avilan 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 9 6 5.84
Varvaro 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 8 6 2.83
Kimbrel 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 12 8 0.56
Carpenter,DD 1.0 2 0 0 0 2 17 15 1.88
Walden 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 10 4 2.86
Russell 3.0 0 0 0 2 1 36 23 2.41
Hale L 3-7 3.0 2 1 1 4 0 55 24 3.07
17.0 11 5 5 9 12 248 152
LAN: Crawford,C batted for League in the 9th
Turner,Ju batted for Wright,J in the 11th
Barney batted for Frias in the 14th
Van Slyke batted for Jansen in the 17th
Van Slyke moved to lf in the 17th
Atl: Doumit batted for Avilan in the 7th
Upton,B ran for Johnson,C in the 9th
Bonifacio moved to ss in the 10th
Upton,B moved to cf in the 10th
Gosselin inserted at 3b in the 10th
Pena,R batted for Walden in the 11th
Gattis batted for Russell in the 14th
E-Gonzalez,Ad, La Stella. 2B-Gordon,D(14), Puig 2(29), Bonifacio(19),
Freeman,F(35), Johnson,C(20). HR-Freeman,F(19). RBI-Gordon,D 3(54), Puig(58),
Gonzalez,Ad(83), Freeman,F 3(73), Johnson,C(54). SB-Gordon,D(47),
Van Slyke(4), Heyward 2(15). K-Gordon,D, Gonzalez,Ad, Kemp 2, Ethier,
Uribe 2, Rojas 2, Butera, Hernandez,R, Barney, Bonifacio, Upton,J 3,
La Stella, Laird 3, Harang 2, Doumit, Upton,B 2, Gosselin 2. BB-Gordon,D,
Puig 2, Gonzalez,Ad 2, Kemp, Ethier, Uribe, Van Slyke, Heyward, Bonifacio,
Freeman,F 2, La Stella. SH-Hernandez,R, La Stella. HBP-Heyward. PB-Laird 2.
HB-League.
GWRBI: Gordon,D
Temperature: 73, Sky: clear, Wind: left to right at 1 MPH.
Attendance: 19,328
Game Time: 4:58