Dodgers 3, Tigers 2: A late comeback is capped by Max Muncy walking it off on Brusdar Graterol’s emotional night

Chad Moriyama 09/19/2023 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

The Tigers almost lead today’s close game from pole to pole, but the Dodgers finally managed to pull even in the bottom of the 8th and then took their first lead of the game on the final play of the game as Max Muncy walked it off for a 3-2 victory.

It was their fifth win in a row and their second series win in a row, but arguably the best moment was Brusdar Graterol and his mom.

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Caleb Ferguson was the The Opener for the Dodgers and he had a dominant outing with three strikeouts … only problem is he gave up a homer to Spencer Torkelson to make it 1-0 to the Tigers early.

Next up was bulk boi Ryan Pepiot, who got nine of the first 10 batters he faced, but he did give up a Parker Meadows homer in the 3rd that pushed the Tigers lead to 2-0.

Still, he continued to be effective in the game and in 2023, stranding a double in the 5th and a walk and single in the 6th. The only real trouble he had was in the 7th, as Pepiot surrendered back-to-back singles to start the frame that cornered the runners. However, a safety squeeze was disastrously executed and gave Pepiot a free out at home. That was huge as it looked like a big inning and instead the frame ended with back-to-back flyouts to end his outing.

6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 97 Pitches

Meanwhile, the Tigers were running a pen game, which presented a unique challenge that the bats didn’t necessarily answer well.

In the 1st they missed chances of first and third with one out and bases loaded with two outs, then didn’t get another runner in scoring position until the 7th. Fortunately, they did get a run behind a J.D. Martinez homer in the 4th, his 29th of the year to cut the deficit to 2-1.

But speaking of that 7th, they rallied behind a James Outman infield single and a Mookie Betts single, but of all people and in all counts it was Freddie Freeman grounding into a double play on a 3-1 pitch to kill that rally.

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In the 8th it was finally back to the Dodgers pen, as Brusdar Graterol entered, creating one of the best moments of the season. Today was the first time Brusdar’s mom has seen him pitch in person as a pro and today was the first time she’d seen him in seven years, and she was in the stands cheering him on through a 1-2-3 inning, and they were both clearly emotional after the frame.

The momentum of that seemed to carry into the bottom half, as the Dodgers rallied with two outs yet again. J.D. singled and then was ran for by Chris Taylor, who stole second on the first pitch. Two pitches later, David Peralta blooped one down the left-field line for a ground-rule double to tie the game at 2-2.

After Alex Vesia got a clean 9th inning, that gave the Dodgers a chance to walk it off, and that they did. With one-out Mookie singled for his third hit, and later with two outs Will Smith got hit by a pitch to move a runner into scoring position. That left things for Muncy, who suddenly has a 10-game hitting streak after singling to walk things off in a dramatic and late comeback win.

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Of course, the star was still Graterol and his story with his mom.

Also Miguel Rojas robbed countryman Miguel Cabrera, and Miggy gave him some shit, lol.

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NLRECORD
Braves97-54
Dodgers93-57 (3.5 GB)
Brewers85-66 (12 GB)

*Either still playing or will play later.

Once again, it’s the same team at the same time tomorrow to close the series, and thank god for that. Things start at 4:10 PM HT/7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET with Bobby Miller on the mound against Reese Olson.

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