| for the Los Angeles Dodgers with an error and then got better quickly.Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run homer – his second of the game – in the 10th inning http://www.philliesfanproshop.com/authentic-pat-neshek-jersey , and Dozier homered in a 6-4 comeback win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night to snap a three-game skid.”We haven’t swung the bats well the last three games,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. ”You feel a bit of an exhale tonight.”Dozier went 3 for 4 with two runs scored after being acquired from Minnesota on Tuesday.”It was a fun game,” he said, ”especially after the home run and curtain call. That was pretty cool.”All-Star Matt Kemp ended an 0-for-26 skid with a single leading off 10th against Matt Albers (3-3). Grandal followed with his 19th homer after the Dodgers had blown a 4-2 lead.The Brewers tied it 4-all in the eighth. Mike Moustakas doubled off reliever Scott Alexander, who gave up three walks – one intentional – before Manny Pina singled in Ryan Braun.Dozier scored to put the Dodgers ahead 3-2 in the seventh on Yasiel Puig’s single.”That’s a good debut,” Kemp said of Dozier. ”Show Dodgers fans what he’s capable of doing.”The Dodgers trailed 2-0 in the fifth when Grandal and Dozier homered back-to-back to tie it up. Dozier went deep to center field on the first pitch from Chase Anderson.”I’m surprised the ball actually got out. It was kind of top-spun. I thought it was going to at leat bounce or hit the wall,” Anderson said of Grandal’s first homer. ”The pitch that I would take back would definitely be the Dozier one. I would start that at-bat with a different pitch or locate that ball a bit better.”Dozier got pushed into taking a curtain call after his 17th homer overall.”Being the first game, it’s kind of like, `What do I do?”’ Dozier said. ”Kike grabbed me and said, `Get on out there.”’Dozier singled leading off the seventh. With one out, Chris Taylor walked and Puig singled to right field Aaron Altherr Jersey , scoring Dozier to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead. Pinch-hitter Enrique Hernandez followed with a safety squeeze along the first-base line, scoring Taylor.”Love the way he plays the game,” Roberts said of Dozier. ”He’s a hard-nosed player. I think there’s more of that to come.”Dylan Floro (4-2) got the win after retiring the side in the 10th.Lorenzo Cain went 3 for 4 with a walk for Milwaukee, falling a home run shy of the cycle. He tripled in the first and scored on second baseman Dozier’s throwing error.The Brewers led 2-0 in the third when Cain scored on Rich Hill’s wild pitch. Grandal lost the ball when it took a weird hop and he spun around in confusion trying to find it as Cain came home.Jonathan Schoop went hitless in five at-bats, including three strikeouts, in his Brewers debut after being traded from Baltimore.Anderson gave up two runs and three hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked two.Hill allowed two runs and six hits in six innings, struck out four and walked one.TRAINER’S ROOMDodgers: 3B Justin Turner (right groin strain) will be activated off the DL on Thursday. … RHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (strained groin muscle) begins a rehab assignment Thursday with a start for Class A Advanced Rancho Cucamonga.RARE FEATGrandal became the second Dodger catcher in franchise history to have a multi-homer game that included a walk-off shot. He joins Hall of Famer Roy Campanella, who achieved the feat on May 27, 1953, against the New York Giants.WALK OFFIt was the Dodgers’ second walk-off win of the season and first since June 13 against Texas. They improved to 5-6 in extra innings this season.UP NEXTRHP Jhoulys Chacin (10-3, 3.45 ERA) starts for the Brewers and LHP Clayton Kershaw (4-5 Clay Buchholz Jersey , 2.52) goes for the Dodgers.— SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Thanks to the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels, baseball got a new twist on the old Abbott and Costello gag of “Who’s on First?”For confused players and fans at Scottsdale Stadium on Friday, it was “Who’s on Second?”A day after Major League Baseball announced it would begin extra innings by putting a runner on second base in spring training games, the Giants and Angels jump-started the experiment — they did it to start the ninth with the score tied at 5.Giants manager Bruce Bochy knew what was going on. Only one problem: He hadn’t told his team.“For the rest of the spring, they’re taking a look at it, so we did it today,” Bochy said after the game. “Actually, I’ve got to tell them it starts today.”So as Giants reliever Trevor Gott entered in the top of the ninth and began warming up, third base umpire Alfonso Marquez signaled to the Angels bench to put a runner at second. The split-squad Angels sent Jhoan Urena to the bag.Gott was confused.“I turned around and asked the umpire, ‘Is he supposed to be here?'” Gott said. “He said http://www.philliesfanproshop.com/authentic-pat-neshek-jersey , ‘Yeah,’ but he looked like he was kind of joking. I was like, ‘For real?’ He said, ‘Yeah, it starts today.'”In fact, MLB teams can mutually agree in exhibition play to begin the ninth inning of a tie game with a runner on second base by informing the plate umpire — MLB has asked each team to try it once. If the game is still tied after the ninth, the teams can agree to either end the game or play a 10th inning.The experiment is already part of the minor leagues. Designed to improve the pace of play, all levels of the minors began extra innings with a runner on second last year. It was done in the rookie level of the minors in 2017.With many fans asking each other what was happening, Gott struck out the Angels’ Bo Way to start the ninth.Gott retired Torii Hunter Jr. on a flyball, moving Urena to third, and struck out Ty Kelly to end the inning.The Giants put Alen Hanson on second in the ninth. The Angels’ Ryan Clark struck out Drew Ferguson Chuck Klein Jersey , got Mike Gerber on a flyball, walked Levi Michael and set down Pablo Sandoval on a flyout to finish the inning.That was all, the game ended in a 5-all tie.“I would’ve tried to bunt (Hanson) over for Gerber there,” Bochy said. “It just shows you how important execution is. We couldn’t move him over there. That was the difference.”Gott said he was in those situations quite a few times last year at Triple-A Syracuse.“It definitely makes it a lot tougher in terms of how you approach the batter at the plate, 100 percent,” Gott said. “What I saw last year was bunt pretty much every time. That’s what everyone did pretty much.”Some teams intentionally walked the first batter to set up a double play, Gott said.“For here, it’s OK,” Bochy said. “I wouldn’t want to see it during the season. It’s a little different. I’m not sure everybody knew what was going on.”Gott certainly didn’t. When did he find out?“When it happened,” Gott said. “When the umpire told me.”Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija had another suggestion: eliminate extra innings completely and consider changing to a points system where teams are awarded three points for a win and each team receives one point for a tie.“We’re playing 162 games and over that many games, you should be able to tell who the best team is Richie Ashburn Jersey ,” Samardzija said. “That makes the ninth inning exciting all the time. Who wants to go out and play 15 innings?”Well, Gott for one.“I like extra innings,” Gott said. “I think it measures the depth of the team to some extent.”Bochy has been part of some thrilling extra-inning games as well, including Game 4 of the 2012 World Series against the Detroit Tigers that went 10 innings and a marathon Game 2 of the 2014 NL Division Series against the Washington Nationals that lasted 18 innings.“I think some of the greatest games have been extra inning games, epic games,” Bochy said. “We’ve been part of them. That’s an exciting part of baseball. I’m not into the tie deal. I’d want to play until we finish.”NOTES: Outfielder Austin Slater and ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte were optioned to Triple-A and infielder Zach Green and pitcher Derek Law reassigned. The Giants now have 41 players in camp plus one on the 60-day injured list (Johnny Cueto). |
