LOS ANGELES — On Date Night at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers looked like they had a sure thing only to struggle to close the deal.
The Dodgers cruised into the ninth inning with a five-run lead and a shutout — after playing nine one-run games in their previous 14 and wondering nightly when their next hit with a runner in scoring position might come, it was as close to a breather as they’ve had in awhile. But the Washington Nationals scored three runs in the ninth inning to make it awkward before the Dodgers sealed a 5-3 victory on Friday night.
“Obviously it got a little hairy at the end but we’ll bank the win,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
It was only their fourth deposit in the past 10 games. But it allowed the Dodgers to keep pace with the Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves in the race for playoff seeding in the National League. The Dodgers and Braves have matching records (84-57), 3½ games behind the Brewers, but the Braves own the tiebreaker and would get the No. 2 seed (and a first-round bye) if they finish with the same record as the Dodgers.
“I’ll take the two wins,” Roberts said of the Dodgers’ first back-to-back wins since their six-game streak over the Colorado Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates August 17-23. “I think offensively we’re starting to do some good things. What’s been a constant is the pitching. The starting pitching has been fantastic.”
That has been especially true when Blake Snell has taken the ball.
After missing most of the season following elbow surgery, Snell has hit the ground dominating. In five starts since his return, he has allowed just three runs in 29 innings (no more than one in any of the starts) and held batters to a .152 average (15 for 99) while striking out 38 in 29 innings.
“I think I can be way better,” Snell said after holding the Nationals scoreless for six innings. “I think it’s going good because just pitching in this league so much, I understand hitters, and I’m starting to adjust quicker, which I’m getting excited about. I go out there with a plan and being able to adjust and get quick outs off of that, or get ahead to get strikeouts. It’s starting to get quicker, which I’m extremely happy about.
“I’m happy about that, but I just think I could be way better. I really do. I can locate the fastball in, out, up, down. I think I could do that better. Right now, I’m just missing. I’m around the zone, but just missing. I think I could be even better.”
He allowed five hits and walked two Friday while striking out seven. The Nationals only came close to scoring on him once.
James Wood led off the sixth inning with a double and was on his way to scoring on Andres Chaparro’s single to center field. But he slipped and fell rounding third base.
Given a chance to preserve his shutout, Snell pounced on it. He got Dylan Crews to pop out, struck out C.J. Abrams and broke Brady House’s bat, getting a soft grounder to third base to strand Wood.
“The season’s wrapping up, so just a lot to prove to myself,” Snell said. “I know how good I can be, and I just want to maximize that.”
The Dodgers have been saying similar things about their offense for two months now. Friday’s win only gave them scattered signs of progress.
Just 2 for 27 with runners in scoring position over the previous two nights, the search for a RISP hit ended early Friday.
After back-to-back walks to start the third inning, Mookie Betts came through with a one-out RBI single and Teoscar Hernandez replicated his walk-off winner from Thursday, driving another two-run double into the same left-center field gap.
Alex Call’s leadoff double in the fourth inning was about to be wasted when Nationals shortstop Nasim Nunez booted Tommy Edman’s two-out grounder, allowing Call to score and make it 4-0. Kyle Tucker added a solo home run in the sixth inning, hammering a 99.1 mph fastball at the top of the zone from Nationals reliever Luis Perales on a line into the right field pavilion.
It ended an 0-for-13 stretch that prompted Roberts to drop him to eighth in the batting order against the Nationals left-handed starter, the lowest Tucker has been in a batting order since the 2020 season. The home run was his first since August 8.
“It was nice,” Tucker said. “Just able to contribute right there and put a good swing on the ball and have it go out. … Being able to stay inside and through a ball, 99 up and in, it puts me in a good spot to have success. So just trying to replicate that again tomorrow.”
Overall, the night wasn’t the resounding offensive breakout the Dodgers have yearned for – they still finished the night just 2 for 9 with RISP and had only one hit after the fourth inning. But it looked like enough for a drama-free night.
Edgardo Henriquez carried the shutout through the seventh inning, but the Nationals put runners at second and third on an error by third baseman Max Muncy and a ground-rule double off Kyle Hurt in the eighth. Tanner Scott got Abrams on a fly out to the warning track to strand both runners.
Seth Halvorsen gave up the shutout on three consecutive hits to start the ninth, prompting Roberts to call on Jack Dreyer to close it out. Dreyer gave up one run on a ground out then another on a double by Wood before getting the final out.