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Teoscar Hernández stepped into exactly the kind of situation the Dodgers had failed to capitalize on during the past couple of games: runners in scoring position. And with one out in the ninth inning, the Dodgers were running out of chances for a comeback.
Hernández worked a full count against St. Louis closer Riley O’Brien with runners on first and second. Then he got a sinker up and over the middle of the plate, a pitch he could drive. And he did.
Hernández lined it into the left-center field gap. Tommy Edman scored easily, and Mookie Betts slid across the plate head first as the throw came in high and too late.
The Dodgers walked off the Cardinals with a 3-2 victory Thursday, narrowly avoiding a series sweep at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers are hopeful Shohei Ohtani will not go on the injured list, but his latest injury scare could keep him off the mound for the rest of the season.
“We needed it,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Obviously for seven innings, it didn’t look good at all. Then we found a way to scratch one across. But a win’s a win, however it looks.”
Before Hernández’s walk-off double, the Dodgers (83-57) had taken 26 at-bats with runners in scoring position over two games. Only one of those had resulted in a hit.
Hernández, however, unlocked something on a long fly out he hit in Detroit on Saturday.
“It’s just the way my body was reacting, was more under control,” he said. “I was able to notice everything that I was doing, even though it was an out. …That was the swing that is leading to all the good results that I’ve been having lately.”
Hernández, who entered this series with a .668 OPS against right-handed pitchers, had been struggling for so long that Roberts contemplated a left-field platoon.
“I told Dave, if you feel like you have to use somebody else in there, just do it,” Hernández said. “But know that I am going to keep working and I’m going to try to be ready for the times that you need me.”
On Sunday in Detroit, Hernández hit a home run off Framber Valdez. And when rosters expanded on Sept. 1, the Dodgers decided against bringing up an outfielder who could share playing time with Hernández, betting that he could end his slump.
Hernández went six for 13 in three games against the Cardinals (70-71), with Roberts remarking it was “as good as I’ve seen him versus [right-handers] since April.”
