In the eighth inning on Tuesday night, it looked like the Dodgers were trying to give the game away.
In the end, all they were really doing was setting up some late theatrics.
In a back-and-forth, twist-and-turn, 5-4 thriller of a win over the Kansas City Royals, the Dodgers took another step forward from their recent two-week slump –– overcoming a bafflingly blown two-run lead in the eighth by ultimately winning on Max Muncy’s walk-off single in the 10th.
Such dramatics shouldn’t have been required, of course.
Not after the team got a dominant six-inning, one-run start from Blake Snell in his return from the injured list. Not after they broke a 1-1 deadlock with a two-run rally in the seventh, when Mookie Betts, Alex Call and Teoscar Hernández all hit doubles.
Six more outs, and it would’ve been a straightforward victory.
By the time they got two, however, their plan had already gone off the rails.
Evan Phillips created a mess in the top of the eighth, following a one-out walk by allowing three-straight singles that tied up the score again.
Then, after Jack Dreyer took over, came the night’s most confounding moment.
Dreyer got Carter Jensen to hit a routine fly ball to deep center. But after making the catch, outfielder Andy Pages somehow let the ball slip out of his hand on the transfer and sent it skipping behind him back toward the wall.
At second base, Royals runner Jac Caglianone went from retreating to the bag, to getting waved all the way home for a go-ahead run.
Of all the games the Dodgers have given away during their recent 2-8 rut, none had threatened to feel so gift-wrapped.
With their backs against the wall, however, the club’s offense responded.
In the bottom of the eighth, Betts got the game tied once more, slicing an opposite-field RBI single for his third hit of the night (he also snapped an 18-game home run drought with a solo blast in the second).
Then, after the teams traded zeros in the ninth, the Dodgers finally prevailed in the 10th.
Right-handed reliever Seth Halvorsen survived the top half of the inning, stranding a runner at third in his debut outing with the team.
Moments later, the Dodgers were pouring out of the dugout to mob Muncy, who gave the team its first set of back-to-back wins since July 29-30 on a one-out line drive to right-center field with the bases loaded.
