LOS ANGELES ― Houston Astros pitcher Ryne Stanek twitched his knee, raised his arms above his head, and stepped off the pitching rubber.
In less than a second, home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez and second base umpire Junior Valentine had all the evidence they needed. Both umpires called a balk, pinch-runner Jonny DeLuca trotted home from third base, and the Dodgers had the game-winning run in an 8-7 victory Saturday.
The stunning sequence left Stanek in a tizzy ― Valentine ejected him from the game as he walked off the field ― and completed the Dodgers’ comeback from a 7-3 deficit in bizarre fashion.
Earlier in the inning, Dodgers rookie James Outman thought he had hit a three-run home run, which would have put the Dodgers in the lead. In fact, the ball got lodged in the cyclone fence in right field. Outman’s ground-rule double tied the game 7-7.
The outcome was just the same: the Dodgers won their fourth consecutive game over their despised rivals. Phil Bickford (2-2) pitched two scoreless innings to earn the win, and Evan Phillips tossed a scoreless ninth to record his 10th save.
Home runs by Will Smith, Jason Heyward and David Peralta accounted for three of the Dodgers’ five hits.
Mookie Betts led off the first inning as he often has, hitting a ball 359 feet to the left-field corner. Another foot might have been enough to elude the glove of Astros left fielder Corey Julks, who leaped at the bullpen door to make the catch and rob a possible home run.
Undeterred, two batters later Smith blasted a 383-foot homer that landed comfortably in the left-field bleachers. His 11th home run of the season gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. After J.D. Martinez drew a walk, Heyward hit a laser beam over the right-field fence, his eighth home run of the season putting the Dodgers ahead 3-0.
The Astros’ starting pitcher, right-hander Ronel Blanco, struck out Outman to end the first inning. That kicked off a string of 12 consecutive Dodger outs, which ended when Michael Busch walked to end a 10-pitch plate appearance in the fifth inning. Blanco came back to retire another four in a row before handing the game off to the Astros’ bullpen.
Meanwhile, Houston launched a comeback.
Jose Altuve was serenaded with chants of “cheater” by the announced crowd of 49,281 at Dodger Stadium as he punched an RBI single into right field in the third inning, bringing the Astros within 3-1.
Then came the fifth inning, in which the Astros loaded the bases, emptied the bases on a grand slam by Alex Bregman, then put runners on second and third with a walk and a double. When Diaz singled in the Astros’ fifth run of the inning, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts mercifully removed Miller from the game with the Dodgers trailing 6-3.
Miller allowed 10 hits, six runs (all earned), and walked three batters in four innings. He faced another seven batters in the fifth inning without recording an out. Yency Almonte used a strikeout and a double-play groundout to get the Dodgers out of that inning without incurring further damage to Miller’s ERA.
But the trend line is concerning. Miller was 3-0 with a 0.78 ERA four starts into his career. In the last two outings, the rookie right-hander has allowed 13 runs in nine innings. Roberts said earlier Saturday that Miller’s place in the starting rotation is assured.
The Astros tallied another run against right-hander Ryan Brasier in the sixth inning, putting the Dodgers in a 7-3 hole.
In the seventh inning Roberts sent Peralta, a left-handed hitter, to the plate to hit for struggling second baseman Miguel Vargas. Peralta responded by hitting his fifth homer of the season, a two-run shot that brought the Dodgers within 7-5.
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