On Friday night, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was cautiously optimistic.
“I’ll take the two wins,” he said, when asked if his club was “on a roll” after winning back-to-back games for the first time in a couple weeks. “I think, offensively, we’re starting to do some good things.”
Twenty-four hours later, he and the Dodgers had even more reason for belief.
The two-time defending champions still aren’t firing on all cylinders, and they’re still just .500 over the last two months.
But after weeks of middling play, they just might be turning a corner too, battling back (and then, in a hairy ninth inning, hanging on) for a come-from-behind 6-5 win over the Washington Nationals on Saturday that gave them some tangible momentum to finally latch onto.
For much of the evening, the night was shaping up to be a frustrating dud.
Shohei Ohtani was out of the lineup again. Max Muncy (sick) and Dalton Rushing (discomfort in the same right elbow where he already has a slightly torn ligament that he’s been playing through) were scratched a couple hours before first pitch.
The offense scored two first-inning runs, then went quiet. Tyler Glasnow was not sharp in a six-plus-inning, four-run start, turning the early lead into a two-run deficit by the time he exited.
The Dodgers, however, pride themselves on winning the “big moments.”
And Saturday, none was bigger than when Tommy Edman stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh.
Two runners were aboard, after a walk from Alex Freeland and single from Kiké Hernández. The Nationals had turned to their historically wretched bullpen, which is on pace to set an MLB record in blown saves.
Right on cue, Edman took advantage.
Former Dodgers prospect Clayton Beeter threw him an elevated slider in a 2-and-1 count. Edman –– who had already electrified the crowd earlier in the night with a leaping catch at the wall in center field –– turned on it from the left side of the plate and launched a go-ahead three-run home run, igniting a scene of ecstasy at Chavez Ravine that was equal parts celebration and relief.
After all, the Dodgers are running out of time to get themselves right.
Each of their previous potential second-half turning points –– like consecutive sweeps of the Rockies and Pirates last month, or even their series win over the Tigers last week –– have proven to be false starts.
Each time they’ve seemed to be gaining traction, their offense goes cold, or their pitching hits a snag, or they have another injury setback that dampens the mood around the team.
For a while on Saturday, they were threatening to fall victim to all three fates. Even in the ninth, when what had grown to a 6-4 lead was suddenly in danger again with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position against Tanner Scott, danger loomed.
By the end of it, however, they were officially back on the upswing as winners of three-straight games.
This time, they need it to be a real catapult over the rest of the season.
