Navarro's pinch-hit single in ninth gives Dodgers 3-2 victory
So that’s how the other half lives.
Pulling out a ninth-inning victory. Being the team that rushes the field in celebration, not the one walking off dejected and bewildered.
The Dodger have suffered their share of late-inning collapses lately, but Friday night it was the Dodgers who scored in the ninth inning to pull out a 3-2 victory over the Florida Marlins.
With the scored tied at 2-2, the Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth and brought in Dioner Navarro to pinch hit. The Marlins played their infield in, and brought in center fielder Chris Coghlan as an extra infielder.
Narvarro, however, lined a drive past a diving Coghlan to the right of second base for the game-winning hit.
The rally gave rookie Rubby De La Rosa his first victory.
The Dodgers had only three hits through eight innings, but two were solo home runs by James Loney and Andre Ethier.
The Dodgers' initial three hits came against Javier Vazquez, who entered the game with a 3-4 record and a 6.41 earned-run average. They made the two of them count, though.
Otherwise, it was a lot of three up and three down. Vazquez went six innings, walking one and striking out three. Oh, while lowering his ERA to 6.02.
Jon Garland was coming off his worst start of the season -- seven runs on 11 hits in 3 2/3 innings against the White Sox -- but he was firmly in control Friday.
Loney’s only other home run of the season came April 6, or 161 at-bats ago. There was no doubt about this one, however. Loney actually stood at the plate and watched it travel into the Florida bullpen.
It remained a 1-0 game until the sixth, when Garland gave up a leadoff walk to Hanley Ramirez. After a single by Logan Morrison advanced him, Ramirez scored on a single by Greg Dobbs.
The score did not remain tied for long. Ethier, who had one extra-base hit in 73 at-bats in May, drove a Vazquez fastball out to right for his fifth home run of the season. His only other extra-base hit this month was also a home run.
The Marlins tied the score in the eighth against the Dodgers’ latest rookie wunderkind, De La Rosa.
De La Rosa gave Ramirez another leadoff walk, and again it proved costly. This time Ramirez stole second, took third on a Gaby Sanchez singles to left field and scored on another Dobbs hit.
Sanchez, however, had a brain cramp that might have cost Florida a second run. After Loney made a nice backhanded catch of a Mike Stanton foul while reaching into a photo well, he threw the ball back to De La Rosa in front of the plate. When De La Rosa turned toward the mound, Sanchez inexplicably broke for home. He was easily caught in a rundown.
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Photo: Dodgers catcher Dioner Navarro flips his bat after seeing his pinch-hit single drive in the winning run against the Marlins on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / US Presswire
good to get a win, and maybe better teams will raise the level of our play ... it happens, though I have my doubts with our bunch... still, I'll hope.
frank may meet payroll, but june 22 and gordon granting jamie's request for sale of biggest marital asset remains my largest hope behind the recovery of Bryan Stow, justice brought to all 3 involved in the senseless attack
beat the fish and hurry up june 22
Posted by: alanw19 | 05/28/2011 at 04:10 AM
real nice win for the boys. nice to see the fun in the dugout after Loney's HR and the big bear hug that Loney put on Navarro after his big hit. Looks like these guys still care about each other.
Posted by: phillydodger | 05/28/2011 at 04:12 AM
The Dodgers ownership has done enough to stain the Dodgers legacy but to issue Maury Wills number 30 jersey to "Duh" Ner Navarro is outrageous. Maury Wills was part of three of the five world champions since the Dodgers moved to L.A. He epitomized the spirit of those three champions and was a testament to a never say die attitude based on a long career spent in the minors. The Dioner "party" is barely keeping neck above the Mendoza line and is only on the roster because A.J. Ellis still has options and Ned does not want to admit he paid another mistake.
Boycott the Dodgers and their current management team who know nothing about the history and legacy of this team and make every move based on incompetence.
Posted by: Wes | 05/28/2011 at 07:44 AM
Dioner did something? He should retire immediately. It'll never get any better than this.
Posted by: Chumpy Kemp | 05/28/2011 at 09:41 AM
As I've said on occasion, even a blind squirrel can find an acorn now and then, but in this case it was more like a blind acorn finding the squirrel. Still it was one of those rarest of things for this year's team - a win.
Posted by: Labeldude | 05/28/2011 at 12:24 PM