Dodgers storm back in ninth for wild walk-off win over Orioles…
Friday evening mustn’t have required late dramatics for the Dodgers.
But boy, what a shocking end it created.
After main by three runs early, then falling behind by two runs getting into the ninth, the Dodgers rallied for a wild 6-5 walk-off win over the Baltimore Orioles –– one that completed, fittingly, with a game-winning hit from the Dodgers’ most annoyed participant.
Before he got here to the plate with the game on the line, catcher Dalton Rushing had endured eight innings of anguish. He was 0-for-4 on the evening with three strikeouts. He had fanned twice on low sliders, including one in a wasted bases-loaded alternative in the backside of the third.
After two pitches against Orioles nearer Ryan Helsey, he was back in a two-strike gap again, having chased yet another slider in the grime that despatched him stepping out of the box in another second of rage.
But then, the left-handed hitter seemed up and caught a glimpse of the Dodgers’ dugout.
Mookie Betts was cheering him on. The remainder of his teammates have been pounding the top railing.
“When you’re in that moment right there, nothing that’s happened the first four at-bats … matters,” he said afterward. “I look in the dugout and all those guys care about is that next pitch, and the next pitch after that.”
Dalton Rushing (heart) is mobbed by teammates after hitting a walk-off singe in the ninth inning that introduced residence two runners on a Baltimore error in the Dodgers’ 6-5 win over the Orioles on June 19, 2026 in Los Angeles. Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Thus, Rushing took a deep breath, then took the next pitch –– another slider –– high for a ball that saved the at-bat alive.
The next pitch after that: A fastball on the inside half that had Rushing jammed, however that he still obtained sufficient of to ship a single into proper area.
“Honestly, I just wanted to spoil any pitch besides a slider, especially after chasing one in the dirt,” Rushing quipped. “I had a feeling that they were gonna throw another one. And the whole mindset was, foul off a fastball and just try to move the slider forward through the middle of the field. And luckily, pulled a heater inside, caught it in the loop, and Dodgers win.”
Indeed, what occurred next was the most pandemonious second of the Dodgers’ season thus far.
Pinch-runner Alex Call got here racing residence from the second. Then, outfielder Tyler O’Neill’s throw from proper obtained past catcher Samuel Basallo, who gave a seemingly weak effort to corral a high, awkward hop.
The ball ricocheted off Basallo’s glove, trickled into the dugout, and allowed the successful run in a all of the sudden delirious Chavez Ravine.
“Great way to end the night, especially after the frustration early,” Rushing said, sporting a wild smile and cooler-soaked jersey as he addressed reporters from his locker postgame.
“It’s a great feeling. I think it honestly just feels great that we won that baseball game.”
Dalton Rushing hits a walk-off single to guide the Dodgers to a comeback win over the Orioles. Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
What it means
Rushing was not the only one annoyed early, after the Dodgers had let a 3-0 lead in the second inning flip right into a 5-3 deficit by the seventh.
Along the method, there was the wasted bases-loaded, no-out alternative in the third, the low point of an evening the Dodgers left 12 males on base and went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring place.
There have been back-to-back residence runs off Roki Sasaki in the sixth, turning what had been a gem of an outing as much as that point (he had retired 16 of his first 19 batters with six strikeouts) right into a disappointing 5 ⅔-inning, three-run dud.
Then, there was a go-ahead two-run single from Orioles No. 9 hitter Jeremiah Jackson in the seventh off reliever Will Klein, giving Baltimore a two-run lead it might carry into the ninth.
But, with the Dodgers on the verge of one among their most disappointing defeats of the 12 months, Mookie Betts hit a house run (his third hit of the game) to chop the deficit to 1. After that, Max Muncy and Ryan Ward each drew walks to arrange Rushing’s heroics with two outs in the inning, lifting the Dodgers (49-27) to their fourth-consecutive one-run win.
“Tonight shouldn’t have been a game, in my opinion,” supervisor Dave Roberts said. “We kept them around. We’ve let a lot of teams hang around … But at the end of the day, we are winning baseball games. So that’s a good sign.”
Roki Sasaki, who allowed three runs over 5 ²/₃ innings, acquired a no resolution in the Dodgers’ comeback win over the Orioles. Wally Skalij for California Post
Who’s sizzling
Even before Friday, Rushing had not been sizzling for the better a part of two months, following up his blistering start to the season (.385 common, seven residence runs, 16 RBIs in his first 12 games) with a protracted stoop ever since (.209 common, one residence run, 5 RBIs in 30 games since April 27).
Against that backdrop, he repeatedly berated himself in the dugout following his poor swing choices earlier in the contest. At one point, he tried to snap a bat over his knee.
“Still working on that,” Rushing deadpanned when requested how he’s studying to better management his animated feelings.
“It’s just part of the process,” Roberts added. “The learning process, the experience part.”
Another meltdown might need occurred in the ninth, if not for the glimpse Rushing caught of the bench in the face of the game’s last strike.
The religion he felt from Betts, he famous, was significantly helpful as he tried to reset.
“I see Mookie, [and he had] just all the confidence in the world in me,” Rushing said. “For a guy like that, a guy that’s lived in that moment, he’s succeeded in that moment, he’s failed in that moment, he knows what it feels like, it’s pretty special.”
Betts was in the center of the mob that fashioned round Rushing at the game’s raucous conclusion, as the team walloped the second-year catcher in one among the season’s most joyous scenes.
“For him to flush it all and to flip his entire game and help us win a ballgame was huge,” Roberts said. “After he, you know, vents, he does a good job of collecting himself to get back into the next play.”
Ryan Ward scores the game-winning run in the ninth inning of the Dodgers’ come-from-behind win over Orioles. Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Who’s not
The Dodgers, in fact, didn’t need to want a three-run ninth-inning rally given the method the game had began.
But on an evening they have been without Shohei Ohtani (who was away from the team for the start of his second baby), Teoscar Hernández (who is about to start a rehab project next week as he nears his return from a hamstring pressure) and Will Smith (who had a cortisone injection to deal with his lingering neck injury), the team’s younger replacements missed an opportunity to tug away.
With the bases loaded and no outs in the third, each of Ward, Rushing and Alex Freeland went down swinging, unable to put off low sliders from Trey Gibson that price the Dodgers a golden alternative to interrupt the game open.
Alex Freeland beats the tag of catcher Samuel Basallo to score a run in the second inning of the Dodgers’ comeback win over the Orioles. Wally Skalij for California Post
In the end, however, each Ward and (particularly) Rushing obtained their probability for redemption.
“That third inning, very forgettable at-bats,” Roberts said, “To their credit, they made the adjustments later.”
Up next
The Dodgers and Orioles continue this collection on Saturday evening when Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7-4, 2.52 ERA) returns to the mound following his close to no-hitter last week. He will face off against Orioles left-hander Trevor Rogers (3-7, 5.86 ERA).
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