The Dodgers finally had their storybook moment – until the Angels rewrote it with a walk-off ending.
In the top of the ninth inning at Angel Stadium on Tuesday night, Shohei Ohtani lifted the Dodgers to the verge of a badly needed win, breaking a tie with the kind of swing that could have jump-started their stretch run.
With former Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen on the mound and a split crowd in Anaheim rising to its feet, Ohtani blasted a go-ahead home run deep to right field. He flipped his bat. The Dodgers’ dugout went wild. After so many recent blown leads and late-game meltdowns, the team was three outs away from finally turning the tide.
Instead, the Dodgers found yet another way to crumble.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Angels tied the score after Alex Vesia gave up a leadoff single, a walk and a Nolan Schanuel sacrifice fly.
In the bottom of the 10th, they sealed their fifth straight win over the Dodgers this season on Jo Adell’s big-bouncing, walk-off RBI single.
The 7-6 loss sent the Dodgers’ spiraling season to a new low.
They have now lost three in a row and 20 of 32 since July 4. A nine-game lead in the National League West has vanished, leaving them tied with the San Diego Padres. The Padres, with all the momentum, will visit Dodger Stadium this weekend to face a scuffling Dodgers club.
Tuesday offered more deflating subplots for the Dodgers.
Emmet Sheehan gave up five runs in a five-inning start. The team erased one early two-run deficit, only to fall behind by two again. The lineup left the bases loaded with the score tied to end the top of the fifth inning. Ohtani lined into a triple play with two aboard in the sixth.
But nothing stung like the final two innings – when a potential turning point instead resulted in another familiar heartbreak.