by Cary Osborne
The Dodgers’ 4–3 win in Detroit featured a series of moves and countermoves that led to the end of a four-game losing streak.
The Dodgers have leaned heavily on the bullpen this month and looked for veteran left-hander starter James Paxton to give them some length. But regardless of that need, the Dodgers pulled Paxton in the fourth inning trailing 3–2 with two outs and two on and decided to go with a relay race the rest of the way.
It worked.
The Dodgers used five relievers, including saves leader Evan Phillips in the sixth inning, to get them to the finish line. Phillips worked a scoreless sixth inning — his first outing before the seventh inning since July 23, 2023.
“For me, down a run, to shorten the game and not wanting to essentially wave the white flag too soon, I felt Evan gave us the best chance,” said manager Dave Roberts.
The Dodger bullpen worked 5 1/3 scoreless innings.
Shohei Ohtani delivered the go-ahead RBI double in the eighth inning, but the Dodgers beat the Tigers at chess two batters before.
The Dodgers had the left-handed hitting James Outman pinch hitting for Miguel Vargas against the right-handed reliever Jason Foley.
The Tigers countered with left-handed reliever Tyler Holton.
The Dodgers then sent the right-handed hitting Austin Barnes to pinch hit.
Barnes singled to put two runners on.
Later, Ohtani delivered.
“I think that at that point in time, we’re all in, and Austin gets a lot of credit and obviously Shohei,” Roberts said. “The players make plays.”
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The Way It Began
The win ended a four-game losing streak.
And this one began with many of the familiarities of the four losses.
· The opponent scored first for the fifth straight game.
· The opposing starting pitcher allowed two runs or fewer for the fifth straight game.
· The Dodger starting pitcher lasted less than five innings.
The Dodgers managed two runs over six innings against Detroit All-Star Tarik Skubal, who came into the game second in the American League with a 2.37 ERA. Freddie Freeman homered in the fourth inning and Andy Pages drove in a run with a single.
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They were the only two hits against Skubal.
The Dodgers, though, trailed 3–2 as the Tigers took advantage of early Paxton command issues.
Paxton lasted 3 2/3 innings, walked four, allowed five hits and three runs.
Bullpen Power
The Dodger bullpen had multiple clutch moments in the game.
Yohan Ramirez entered in the fourth in relief of Paxton with two on and two outs. Ramirez struck out third baseman Matt Vierling to end the inning.
Michael Petersen walked the first batter he faced in the eighth inning, Mark Canha, then balked him to second base. Petersen retired the next three batters he faced to get out of the jam.
Daniel Hudson, after Ohtani’s double, walked back-to-back batters in the ninth with one out and fell behind on the next two. But he retired both to end the game to lock down the save.
The Tigers were 0-for-7 with runners on base against the bullpen and made three baserunning outs.
Clutch-Hitting Teo
Teoscar Hernández was down 1–2 in the count with two outs in the eighth inning against Foley. With the right side open, he chopped a single through 3–4 hole between first and second base to drive in the tying run.
The Dodger tied the score 3–3 on Hernández’s 61st RBI of the season.
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The Dodgers maneuver their way to a much-needed victory was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.