In another grinding win, L.A.’s Kiké Hernández spoils Kenley Jansen’s return to Dodger Stadium
Make it two straight wins for Los Angeles Dodgers out of the All-Star break, though it might have been closer than they would’ve liked.
The Dodgers defeated the Red Sox 7-6 on Saturday in a game that needed two extra innings and a walk-off RBI single to secure victory for L.A.. The win adds momentum to a Dodgers squad that was struggling in July prior to the break, losing eight out of 12 games.
While Will Smith’s final at-bat ended the game, it was Kiké Hernández who helped keep the team in position to win with two timely hits after he was brought in as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning.
“I haven’t really been able to come through that much this year, especially here at Dodger Stadium,” Hernández said postgame. “I don’t know why, it’s been weird, but I feel like most of the good things that I’ve done have been on the road. It feels great to come through here at Dodger Stadium. Two big moments, and I’m glad we got the win.”
The first of those big moments came in the ninth inning, when Hernández hit a 430-foot solo home run to left-center off his old teammate and former Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen. The knock, which tied the ballgame 4-4, was the first home run Jansen has surrendered in a closing situation this season, and it marked his first blown save since April 16.
“He broke my bat on a two-seamer. Went out to the warning track, and this was in Atlanta in 2021 or 2022,” Hernández said of a past at-bat against Jansen.
“He’s not really throwing that two-seamer this year, and there’s no mystery with what Kenley’s trying to do, and he’s still — there’s a reason why he’s doing what he’s doing, with only basically one and a half pitches — because he doesn’t really throw the slider that much. But it’s a great pitch, and he gave me one to handle, and I didn’t miss it.”
Hernández came in clutch again in the 10th inning with a base hit down the middle to drive in Andy Pages and tie the game 6-6. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts credited those plays by Hernández, among others offensively, for helping the team pull off the win.
“Tonight, the credit goes to the offense to continue to grind, and I don’t think Kenley’s given up a homer all year, so for Kiké to go down, I think, 0-2 and hit a homer was huge,” Roberts said postgame.
On Friday, the Dodgers needed a Freddie Freeman grand slam in the eighth inning to defeat the Red Sox 4-1. Was there some carryover to Saturday?
“I think last night was a big kind of shot in the arm for us,” Roberts said of the first win after the break. “To start the second half and, you know, even tonight, I felt that the guys had the fight in there that we weren’t going to go down without a fight. And so we were down to our last strike, and it just — the fight was there, and you can see guys pulling for one another, picking each other up.”
The fact that the Dodgers had to “grind” and “fight” in back-to-back wins might be cause for concern. Yes, the Red Sox are in the AL playoff mix and a good team, but this has been a theme for the Dodgers the entire season.
Every Dodgers victory in July has either been of the walk-off fashion or come down to the last two innings. For a team that spent more than $1 billion in the offseason, those aren’t the type of wins they wanted to rely on.
But help is expected soon for L.A. Mookie Betts and Jason Heyward should be back in the lineup in the near future. On the pitching front, Clayton Kershaw is expected to start Thursday, and Tyler Glasnow will be up Wednesday in the series against the San Francisco Giants.
Getting key contributors back from injury will be crucial for the Dodgers as they look to string together more wins and enough continuity for the deep run into October that they envisioned when putting this team together.
