Tyler Anderson danced out of trouble all afternoon, showing remarkable poise with runners on base but the Los Angeles Dodgers staged an epic comeback win in extras innings for Vin Scully’s final home broadcast.
The brilliance with men aboard began in the bottom of the second with an Adrian Gonzalez single followed by a Carlos Ruiz double down the left field line which was played beautifully by David Dahl who was able to keep Gonzalez from scoring. Anderson proceeded to get a couple of weak groundouts and a strikeout to strand both runners and keep the game scoreless.
The Rockies started the scoring with a pair of runs in the top of the second. Cristhian Adames singled to left and then Dustin Garneau — who suddenly finds himself in the fourth spot in the catcher rotation — continued the good play for Rockies’ backstops with a double down the left field line. Howie Kendrick wasn’t able to field the ball as quickly as Dahl had the inning before, and Adames was able to score with relative ease.
Garneau moved to third on a sac bunt from Anderson came in on a sacrifice fly from Charlie Blackmon, Kendrick making an excellent diving catch to rob the centerfielder of a base hit.
The next half inning (bottom of the third) began exactly the same as the last two had, with a single from Kenrick and a double right down that left field line from Justin Turner. Anderson got Corey Seager with some fantastic defense of his own but couldn’t keep the slate clean this time, giving up a run on a sac fly off the bat of Yasiel Puig. Still. Anderson limited the damage to one, getting Adrian Gonzalez to ground out to Nolan Arenado, preserving the lead at 2-1.
Anderson was chased from the game on an RBI triple from Corey Seager in the bottom of the seventh that tied the game. But Chris Rusin picked him up, stranding Seager at third then pitching cleanly through the eighth with three strikeouts.
With two outs in the ninth and two strikes in the at-bat, Dahl came through in the clutch again, this time on offense. He adjusted to closer Kenley Jansen’s barrage of high fastballs, went up and got one at his eyes and drove it over the right-field fence to put the Rockies up 3-2.
It was only the fourth home run that Jansen has allowed all season.
But Seager struck again in the bottom of the ninth. After a series of unhittable sliders from Adam Ottavino, the Dodgers rookie superstar received a gift pitch that just hung in the middle and he got every stitch of it, sending a no-doubter over the right-field fence.
The Rockies couldn’t get anything going in the top of the tenth before former Rockie Charlie Culberson hit his first home run of the year, as well it should be so that Vin Scully could call a walk-off for the home team in his final game at Dodger Stadium.
And with that, the Los Angeles Dodgers have clinched the National League West. A fitting way to send out a legend.
What’s Next
The Rockies stay in California for a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants, their last road series of 2016. In Game 1, Rockies rookie German Marquez will make the second start of his MLB career, becoming the second youngest pitcher in franchise history to earn a win in his last outing. He faces off against Matt Moore. First pitch at 8:15 MST.
