Nationals 7, Dodgers 6: About 8 hours after the original start time, the Dodgers get walked off on a wild pitch in extras

Chad Moriyama 09/09/2023 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

Following yet another rain delay on the East Coast, this one of over four fucking hours (get a roof, you savages), the Dodgers and Nationals hilariously played an extra inning game that made things all the longer.

The long wait eventually ended in a walk-off walk to make a 7-6 loss, because of course it did.

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Cole Irvin took to the mound for the Nationals after the delay and promptly gave up a single to David Peralta and a double to Freddie Freeman. After the umpire basically screwed Will Smith out of a walk, if not the entire at-bat, Max Muncy got the Dodgers on the board with a sacrifice fly.

Unfortunately, that didn’t last very long for Bobby Miller, who now seems like the staff ace despite being a rookie. CJ Abrams led the game off with a soft single that was turned into a triple when Jason Heyward made a sliding attempt and it got past him. A Lane Thomas sacrifice fly followed and the game was tied at 1-1.

The two sides then traded scoreless innings over the next three into the 5th, where the Dodgers went down in order but the Nationals certainly didn’t.

A walk started things for them against Miller, then a stolen base followed that saw the runner advance to third due to Will bouncing the throw and it getting into center. Luis Garcia singled to give the Nats the lead, and after a foul bunt attempt, a successful bunt single and a hit by pitch loaded the bases. Dominic Smith took advantage with a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 3-1 over the Dodgers.

Meanwhile, Irvin finished his outing with five straight scoreless frames, but the Dodgers scrapped together a run against their pen in the 6th. A lead-off double from J.D. Martinez was followed by a groundout to advance him to third, and an Enrique Hernandez sac fly to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Miller did bounce back with a 1-2-3 frame in the 6th, but Dave Roberts let him continue in the 7th as well. He retired the first two batters in that inning, and was allowed to face the top of the order for a fourth time. He promptly issued a walk and hung a slider to Thomas, one that he crushed for a two-run homer to make it 5-2.

Miller finished his outing with a strikeout, his eighth of the night, a career high.

Obviously though, he wasn’t happy with his outing, but hopefully it’s a learning experience for everybody involved: 7 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 8 K, 99 Pitches.

That homer hurt more after the 8th when the Nats pen relented again. After two outs, Will got hit and Muncy followed by tomahawking one out to right for his 34th of the year to make it a 5-4 game.

In order to keep it that way, the Dodgers summoned Shelby Miller for the 8th, and he got a clean 12-pitch inning to give the bats a shot.

With their last licks, a Nats outfielder robbed a Dodger of a double for the third time of the night to start, which obviously would’ve changed the game.

Fortunately, James Outman followed by working an 11-pitch walk, and promptly stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. That brought up Kolten Wong, who was allowed to hit and came through by ripping a single to right past the infield playing in to tie things at 5-5.

Wong proceeded to then easily steal second, and Peralta worked a walk to put a pair on. Surprisingly, Freeman struck out on just three pitches, but with Smith up, Wong and Peralta worked a double steal to put a pair in scoring position. Smith looked to take advantage of this with a single up the middle, but the Nats defense again came up huge, with Garcia robbing him of at least an infield single.

Attempting to get things to bonus baseball was Brusdar Graterol, who got an out to start, but then Muncy clanged another ball for a baserunner. A single followed to corner things up, and after a runner took second, an intentional walk was issued to load things up.

The runner taking the extra bag was a help, as Graterol induced a grounder to Enrique at short, who made an errant throw but was picked by Will for a force out at home. A comebacker to Graterol ended the threat there and regulation ended tied.

Extras!

Things started with Muncy seemingly grounding a single to right, but new second baseman Michael Chavis made a diving stop to get him and thus it was only an advancement of the runner. After a walk left things cornered, pinch-hitter Chris Taylor struck out, but Enrique put the Dodgers ahead with a single to make it 6-5.

To try and win things, Ryan Brasier entered in the 10th, but he immediately surrendered a single that tied the game at 6-6. Though he did at least bounceback and not get walked off.

In the 11th the Dodgers had Miguel Rojas sacrifice to start, but a strikeout of Peralta followed, and after an international walk to Freddie and a stolen base, Smith grounded out.

Gus Varland started the 11th by getting a sacrifice out, and after an intentional walk, the Dodgers got a second out on a ground ball against a drawn-in infield. However, Varland uncorked a wild pitch that Smith couldn’t block and the game was over. Yeesh.

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NLRECORD
Braves92-49
Dodgers86-55 (6 GB)
NL WESTRECORD
Dodgers86-55
Diamondbacks75-68 (12 GB)

*Either still playing or will play later.

In a game I wish they could rain delay ahead of time, the series finale will be tomorrow at 7:35 AM HT/10:35 AM PT/1:35 PM ET. It’ll likely be Gavin Stone at some point as the bulk boi (or some kind of other quasi-pen game), facing off against Catholic warrior Trevor Williams.

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