by Cary Osborne
When Will Smith stepped to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning on Saturday night with the score tied at Dodger Stadium, the bases were loaded but the Dodgers had not managed a hit with a runner on base against the Rockies in the series.
Smith, consistently clutch throughout the season, though, did it again and lined a single to left field off Colorado reliever Daniel Bard. Two runs scored and the Dodgers eventually took what was a 2–2 tie to a 5–2 victory.
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— @Dodgers
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“I’m still pretty confident in those situations,” Smith said. “I’ve had a lot of success and feel like I’m not afraid to fail in that moment.”
A patchwork pitching performance was capped by Kenley Jansen locking down the save. It was the 341st career save for Jansen, tying Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers for 14th all time.
The Dodgers walked eight times and collected seven hits in the game, three coming off the bat of Trea Turner. And three hits arrived in the eighth inning.
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For the week, the Dodgers batted .187. And before Smith’s single, the Dodgers were 0-for-17 in the first 16 innings of this series against the Rockies with runners on base.
The Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs against Bard with a Max Muncy single and walks to Mookie Betts and Justin Turner. Smith, who has been a terror to opposing pitchers in late and close situations, connected on a 98-mph sinker to give the Dodgers a 4–2 lead.
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Smith is 7 for his last 14 and has reached base 11 times in his last 18 plate appearances.
Pinch-hitter AJ Pollock later followed with an RBI single, giving the Dodgers a 5–2 lead.
Jansen, the Dodgers’ sixth pitcher of the game, retired the Rockies in order in the ninth inning, getting C.J. Cron to fly out to end it.
The Dodgers started the game with 1 2/3 scoreless innings from opener Corey Knebel and received 3 2/3 innings from David Price, who allowed Colorado’s only runs — in the third on a Connor Joe sacrifice fly and in the fourth on a Ryan McMahon groundout. The four other pitchers — Phil Bickford (1 scoreless inning), Justin Bruihl (2/3 scoreless), Blake Treinen (1 scoreless) and Jansen (1 scoreless) helped the Dodgers combine to allow two runs and three hits over nine innings.
The Dodgers have used an opener five times since Aug. 16 and are 4–1 in the games. They have used six pitchers or more in a game eight times since Aug. 10 and are 7–1.
“We just do what we’re called to do. We don’t focus on the optics around us,” Treinen said. “It’s not like this is new to baseball. If this was year one where people were trying to piece together bullpenning or openers into a starter and then back to the bullpen again, it would be pretty distracting and hard to do. But with what we did last year during the season and the playoffs and then being part of teams in the past that have done it in the bullpen, you just go with the flow.”
The Dodgers teased a big offensive output early, loading the bases in the third inning. They cashed in one run in the frame on a Justin Turner double-play grounder.
Chris Taylor hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to tie the score 2–2. It was his 19th homer of the season.
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The Dodgers close out the series with the Rockies on Sunday with Mitch White starting. White shut out Pittsburgh over 7 1/3 innings on Aug. 18.
Dodgers have the Will to win again was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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