Will Smith had one shot at history Friday night, and the Milwaukee Brewers were willing participants, choosing to pitch to the Dodgers catcher with runners on second and third and two outs in the eighth inning, even after Smith had slugged three home runs in his four previous plate appearances.
Smith did not become the 19th player in major league history and third in franchise history to hit four homers in a game, but his five-pitch walk off Brewers reliever Elvis Peguero loaded the bases for Freddie Freeman, who hit a clutch, tiebreaking two-run single to center field off left-hander Hoby Milner.
The “Freddie!” chants from a crowd of 49,885 at were still reverberating around Chavez Ravine when Teoscar Hernández roped an RBI double to left field to cap a three-run rally that lifted the Dodgers to an 8-5 come-from-behind victory.
Closer Evan Phillips struck out the side in the ninth for his 14th save, following scoreless relief innings from Blake Treinen and Daniel Hudson, as the Dodgers ended a two-game skid.
Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow threw six innings Friday night. He was perfect in the first, second, third and fifth innings and would have completed a perfect sixth had second baseman Gavin Lux not bobbled Garrett Mitchell’s two-out grounder for an error.
He was far from perfect in the fourth, the Brewers bunching all three of their hits off Glasnow, including a Rhys Hoskins grand slam, in a five-run rally, leaving the right-hander with an odd but ultimately unsightly final line: six innings, three hits, five earned runs, two walks, seven strikeouts.
The rocky start continued a disturbing trend for a rotation that was supposed to be the backbone of a championship-caliber club.
In seven games since Gavin Stone threw a four-hit shutout against the White Sox in Chicago on June 26, Dodgers starters have been rocked for 30 runs in 30 innings for a 9.00 ERA, a brutal stretch in which they gave up 42 hits, struck out 32 and walked 13.
Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow, left, reacts after giving up a grand slam home run to Milwaukee’s Rhys Hoskins in the fourth inning Friday.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
But thanks to Smith, Glasnow did not suffer a loss.
Smith staked the Dodgers to a 2-0 lead with solo home runs off Brewers starter Aaron Civale to right-center field in the first inning and to left field in the third, giving the Dodgers catcher the third multihomer game of his career.
Glasnow needed only 37 pitches to retire the side in order in each of the first three innings. He threw 31 pitches in the disastrous fourth, which leadoff man Brice Turang opened with an infield single. William Contreras walked, and Christian Yelich struck out.
Willy Adames grounded an RBI single through a huge second-base hole to pull Milwaukee to within 2-1, and Mitchell walked to load the bases. Hoskins then crushed a 98-mph fastball on an 0-and-1 count, driving a grand slam just beyond the reach of leaping center fielder Andy Pages for a 5-2 Brewers lead.
The Dodgers got right back into the game in the bottom of the fourth, Pages leading off with a single to left and Miguel Vargas, making his first start in more than a week, sneaking a 360-foot, two-run homer just to the left of the bullpen gate and over the short wall in left field to cut the deficit to 5-4.
Smith then tied the score 5-5 in the seventh by slamming a first-pitch cut-fastball high off the foul pole in left field for his third home run, the 394-foot shot marking the 22nd three-homer game in franchise history and the first since Max Muncy had three homers against Atlanta on May 4.
Will Smith runs the bases after hitting a home run off Brewers starting pitcher Aaron Civale during the third inning Friday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
