SAN DIEGO –– Mason Miller’s command was just a little too wild Tuesday night.
Both to the plate, and to first base.
With the Dodgers and Padres tied in the ninth inning at Petco Park, San Diego’s superstar closer made a mess for himself to blow his first game of the season.
First, he missed with a full-count slider to Max Muncy, having a called third strike flipped to a walk via Muncy’s ABS challenge.
Then, with Alex Call in the game to pinch-run for Muncy at first base, Miller caught Call breaking from the bag –– only to misfire on his pick-off attempt.
Instead of quelling the Dodgers’ threat, Miller’s errant throw was too hard and too wide. It deflected off the outstretched glove of first baseman Ty France. It trickled all the way up the right field line as Call turned on the jets and raced safely to third.
In the Dodgers’ eventual 5-4 win, Andy Pages would bring Call home with a sacrifice fly at the end of an epic nine-pitch battle.
It wasn’t the prettiest turn of events. But the Dodgers certainly didn’t mind.
Instead, this important early-season rivalry series is now tied at one game apiece. For the first time this year, Miller failed to preserve a Padres lead or tied score.
The ninth-inning score marked only the third run he has allowed all season.
For a Dodgers team that has struggled to capitalize on situational opportunities, it couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.
Even after Miller’s miscue, the victory still required some heroics from Pages, who fell into an 0-2 hole against Miller before fighting off a pair of 100 mph fastballs and two more sliders on the edge of the strike zone. Finally, on pitch No. 9, he shot a line drive to right field that was just deep enough for Call to beat a relay play to the plate; his toe tapping the dish a split-second before the tag arrived.
What it means
The Dodgers are back in first place for now, regaining the NL West lead they surrendered after getting shut out on Monday night.
They have also set up a series rubber-match on Wednesday, when Shohei Ohtani will take the mound.
Tuesday was the first time in Miller’s career that he suffered a losing decision. In the bottom of the ninth, Dodgers reliever Will Klein also got his first career save, called upon after the Dodgers exhausted their higher-leverage options –– Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott –– earlier in the night.
Who’s hot
Freddie Freeman hadn’t been lately, with either his swing or his health.
Not only did the first baseman enter Tuesday in an 0-for-16 slump, but manager Dave Roberts said he had been under the weather lately, too, looking “a little bit tired” as he tried to rebound at the plate.
On Tuesday, it happened, with Freeman emerging from his struggles with a pair of home runs that kept the Dodgers in the game early, marking the 23rd multi-homer game of his career.
His first one was an opposite-field drive that just cleared the short wall in left field for two runs in the first. The next was a more towering shot, tying the game at 4-4 in the sixth with a solo blast to right.
Not only did the two long balls help end a power drought for Freeman –– who had just one home run in his previous 35 games –– but it marked his first game with multiple extra-base hits since April 6.
Who’s not
Emmet Sheehan became the first Dodgers pitcher tasked with pitching on only four days’ rest this year.
In a four-inning, four-run start that ended with an early hook after just 67 pitches, it did not go well.
After Freeman’s blast gave the Dodgers an early lead, Sheehan immediately squandered it when Manny Machado took him deep for a two-run blast in the bottom of the first inning. Sheehan gave up another two-run homer in the third to Miguel Andujar, marking the fourth time in nine outings this year he has failed to hold an opponent to no more than three runs.
It could’ve been worse too, had a fly ball from Ty France in the fourth not hopped over the wall for a ground-rule double; which held baserunner Jackson Merrill up at third.
Sheehan’s ERA is now 4.93, as his search for consistency this year continues to drag on.
Up next
Shohei Ohtani (3-2, 0.82 ERA) will return to two-way duties on Wednesday, set to hit and pitch when the Dodgers face breakout right-hander Randy Vásquez (5-1, 2.68 ERA) in the series finale.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
