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BASEBALL

A.J. Pollockwasn’t in the

Dodgers lineup for the third

consecutive game Wednes-

day as he nursed a sore

groin, but he made a pinch-

hit appearance in the eighth

inning and manager Dave

Robertssaid the outfielder

is expected to start Friday

against the Arizona Di-

amondbacks.

Pollock, 31, has appeared

in only 46 games after sign-

ing a four-year, $60-million

contract in the offseason. He

has dealt with groin injuries

in previous years. The latest

trouble surfaced Aug. 1. He

sat out the next two games

before returning to hit a dou-

ble and home run Sunday.

He hasn’t started since.

“The groin has always

been something that he’s

kind of had to deal with

when he’s come back,” Rob-

erts said. “And so knowing

the history and knowing

where he’s at right now, just

to make sure that we do

everything we can to get him

back to complete health.

But it’s really not a concern,

just more being extra cau-

tious.”

Pollock struggled in April

before suffering an elbow in-

fection that sidelined him

for more than two months.

Since returning July 12, the

first game after the All-Star

break, he is batting .313 with

six home runs and a 1.000 on-

base-plus-slugging percent-

age in 18 games.

With Alex Verdugoon

the injured list because of an

oblique strain, Cody Bell-

ingermade his first start in

center field this season in

Pollock’s place.

Injury updates

Chris Taylorwill head to

the Dodgers’ spring training

facility in Arizona when the

team travels to face the Mi-

ami Marlins next week.

Roberts said Taylor has

been swinging in the batting

cage but hasn’t faced live

pitching.

Taylor has been on the IL

since July 15 because of a

fractured left forearm.

Enrique Hernandezwill

join the club on its trip, Rob-

erts said.

Hernandez was placed

on the IL on July 29 because

of a left hand sprain. Rob-

erts said Hernandez and

Taylor are “in the same

bucket” in their recoveries.

Short hops

With a quick turnaround

after Tuesday night’s game,

Walker Buehler threw a

bullpen session during the

first inning of Wednesday’s

game. Buehler is scheduled

to start Friday. ... Edwin Ri-

osmade his first start since

returning to the Dodgers at

first base and doubled. ...

Jack Flaherty, a Harvard-

Westlake High product,

dropped his career earned-

run average to 1.16 in four

starts against the Dodgers

after tossing seven scoreless

innings.

DODGERS REPORT

Treating

Pollock

with

caution

By Jorge Castillo

“A jolt of energy,” Russell
Martin said with a grin.
“Game’s over.”
It was Martin’s turn to
deliver the charge
Wednesday in a game that
perfectly followed Chavez
Ravine’s season-long script.
The Dodgers trailed the St.
Louis Cardinals by a run
entering the ninth inning.
They were down to their last
out. They were down to their
last strike. Then they
grabbed the game by the
heels and knocked it flat.
With runners on second
and third against heat-
bringing Carlos Martinez,
the veteran catcher Martin
chopped a bouncer up the
middle that somehow found
its way into the outfield to
bring in Corey Seager, Will
Smith, and the thunder.
Martin raised his right
fist as he rounded first base,
then realized Smith had not
scored yet, so he brought it
down until it was official.
Then he stuck it back in the
air. It’s probably there still.
”When you get two
strikes and the guy’s throw-
ing 100 mph ... you can kind
of up and just touch the ball
and let destiny happen,” he
said.
The final score was 2-1.
The final result was never in
doubt. These glorious last
gasps indeed feel like des-
tiny.
The Dodgers have a

stunning 10 walk-off hits in

61 home games, equaling the

season total of the 2017

squad. They are five walk-off

hits behind the Los Angeles

record, seven behind the

major league record, and

have 20 home games to

reach those milestones.

There have been walk-

offs by outfielders, infielders

and catchers. The hits have

been delivered by 36-year-

olds and 23-year-olds. The

heroes have included MVP

favorites and backups.

“It just seems like every

day there’s somebody differ-

ent that you’re pouring

Gatorade on,” manager

Dave Roberts said.

On the list are Joc Peder-

son, Alex Verdugo, Smith,

Matt Beaty, Cody Bellinger,

Max Muncy and now Mar-

tin. But at this point, would

anybody else surprise you?

“You look at our lineup

card, you have 11, 12 g u y s

who want to be that guy,”

said Roberts. “That’s a good

thing. Our guys show that

they embrace that.”

One team’s embrace is

the other team’s shiver. The

walk-offs have happened so

frequently, as the Dodgers

build momentum in the late

innings, their opponent

invariably tightens. The

crowd noise swarms their

dugout. The Dodgers’ plate

patience rattles their

nerves.

It happened again

Wednesday, so much that

even as Bellinger grounded

out to begin the ninth, Rob-

erts said he still expected to

win.

“Yeah, yeah,” Roberts

said. “It’s something that I

think the other dugout feels

as well. The crowd gets into

it, we start feeling it, seems

like everyone in our lineup

has been in that spot and

has come through, so once

you have that history and

that feeling, that’s tangible,

we keep showing it’s real.”

Sure enough, the Cardi-

nals’ Andrew Miller started

the rally by hitting Seager in

the back. Then, against

Martinez, pinch-hitter

Smith fought off an 0-and-2

pitch to line a single to left.

Both runners advanced on a

wild pitch, allowing Martin

to shorten his swing and

execute a game-winning

poke.

”It wasn’t like it was hit

that hard,” Martin said.

“Sometimes placement is all

you need.”

If only the Dodgers hit-

ters in the previous two

World Series had figured

that out, right? The attitude

of Martin, one reflected in

the smartest Dodgers hit-

ting approach in years, is a

reason these walk-offs will

carry over into October.

Unlike past teams, these

Dodgers realize they can

win with more than just the

long ball. They’re finally

swinging for something

other than the fences.

Granted, six of the 10 walk-

offs have been home runs,

but the other four include a

sacrifice fly, a walk, a double

and a single.

This doesn’t include the

numerous good plate ap-

pearances that led to those

winning runs.

“If you look at the late

innings, the eighth and

ninth innings ... the ability to

still stay in the strike zone

and create contact, that

translates to the postsea-

son,” said Roberts.

What also will translate

to the postseason is the

Dodgers belief that they

truly are never out of a

game. They should have

been out of this one. They

were trailing in a sleepy

afternoon contest in front of

a seemingly half-filled sta-

dium against a Cardinals

team desperately hanging

in a pennant race.

After Marcell Ozuna’s

home run in the sixth, and

after struggling Seager’s

grounder stranded two

runners in the bottom of the

sixth, they could have

packed it in.

The Dodgers not only

have the best record in

baseball, but they are so far

ahead in the National

League West, they already

have a magic number of 29.

They could clinch this thing

before football season. They

could have taken the after-

noon off. Many fans

streamed toward the exits

in the final innings while one

poor soul was thwarted in

two attempts to start the

wave.

Except these Dodgers

never leave early.

“When you’re down three

runs with one strike to go

and you don’t give away an

at-bat, or you’re still hus-

tling to try to make a play

when you’re up nine runs in

the ninth inning or down

nine runs in the ninth in-

ning, whatever it might be,

it’s just a certain way we

play,” said Roberts. “That’s

a mark of a great culture,

great team ... every out,

every game’s important.”

When those games reach

the ninth inning, it has

become natural for these

Dodgers hitter to sweat over

each of the final three outs.

Out of that work, there

occasionally appears great-

ness. It is not luck. It’s not

coincidence. It’s what

they’ve been missing. It’s

now who they are.

“How we’ve been playing,

it’s contagious,” Martin

said. “We always feel like

we’re going to win, even

when we’re down, it always

seems like we find the way.”

They found it again

Wednesday, willing them-

selves to more delightful

drama, walking off toward

October.

Ho, hum — another day, another walk-off win

[Plaschke, from D1]

The sequence netted the
Dodgers their 10th walk-off
victory — five shy of the fran-
chise record set in 1974 — and
a three-game series sweep of
a potential playoff foe. Mar-
tin joined Smith, Joc Peder-
son, Alex Verdugo, Matt
Beaty, Cody Bellinger and
Max Muncy in delivering a
walk-off victory for the Dod-
gers. Those other six players
haven’t reached their 29th
birthdays. Three are rook-
ies. Martin, an 11-time walk-
off artist in his 14th season,
considered Wednesday a tri-
umph for his shrinking dem-
ographic.
“Let the old guys get hot
too, you know?” Martin said
with a grin.
Until then, it appeared as
though 21-year-old Dustin
May’s strong outing would
come in defeat because of
one pitch. May, a competitor
trapped in the moment,
knowing the one mistake
was the difference in the
game for reasons beyond his
control, bent over, planted
his hands on his knees and
dropped his head in disap-
pointment when he saw that
mistake land on the batter’s
eye in the sixth inning.
Marcell Ozuna had just
unloaded on a 97-mph sinker
May left up over the outer
half of the plate to conclude a
seven-pitch clash with a
bang. The home run trav-
eled 418 feet. It gave the Car-
dinals a 1-0 advantage and
left May dejected, temporar-
ily souring an otherwise
pristine follow-up to his ma-
jor league debut. The gangly
red-haired right-hander got
the next batter out before
manager Dave Roberts took

the ball from him. He walked

off to a boisterous ovation.

May, auditioning for a post-

season role, gave up five hits

and a walk in 5^2 ⁄ 3 innings. He

struck out seven batters. He

threw 83 pitches, including

42 sinkers, and 61 for strikes.

He splattered the strike

zone and he overwhelmed

an offense gasping for air in

recent days.

Before the game, Roberts

said he wanted to see May

throw more first-pitch

strikes and attack different

quadrants more consis-

tently than in his debut Fri-

day. May, a sinkerball spe-

cialist, relied on pitching low

in the zone to fuel his rise in

the minors. The approach is

not likely to breed the same

success at the major league

level even when the sinker

darts at 98 mph. He was bet-

ter on both fronts Wednes-

day. He tossed first-pitch

strikes to 17 of the 23 batters

he opposed and regularly

worked up in the zone. Three

of his strikeouts came on hit-

ters swinging at pitches high

in the zone or above it.

“I definitely felt a little

more comfortable,” May

said. “It was definitely more

in my hand, I felt like, today. I

was controlling the zone,

controlling the pace, and

thought I threw the ball

pretty well.”

May is scheduled to get at

least one more start in five

days thanks to Ross Strip-

ling’s recent setback in his

recovery from neck and bi-

ceps injuries.

After that, it’s unclear. He

could be sent back to the mi-

nors. He could remain with

the Dodgers.

Roberts said May will

need about a month to tran-

sition to the bullpen if the

Dodgers are to use him as a

reliever in October. There’s

time to figure that out. The

returns Wednesday were

promising.

And yet May was outdu-

eled by Flaherty, a Harvard-

Westlake High graduate two

years removed from his ma-

jor league debut as a 21-year-

old hotshot prospect. The

electric right-hander pre-

sented that potential in his

hometown, silencing the

Dodgers across seven in-

nings. He gave up four hits,

struck out 10 batters and

walked one. He and Gio-

vanny Gallegos combined to

keep the Dodgers without a

run until they inevitably con-

jured late-game thrills.

The awakening started

when Andrew Miller

plunked Seager with one

out. After a pitching change,

Smith produced a pinch-hit

single against hard-throw-

ing right-hander Carlos

Martinez (2-2) before Edwin

Rios struck out to bring

Martin up with the game on

the line. The at-bat instantly

changed when Martinez

opened the encounter with a

wild pitch, advancing the

runners to scoring position.

“It went from, ‘I have to

drive this ball’ to ‘I just need

to put it in play,’ ” Martin

said.

Martinez threw another

ball to fall into a hole before

recovering with consecutive

strikes.

He next fired a 99-mph

fastball over the outside cor-

ner and Martin hit it just

hard enough. As he rounded

first base, he looked at

Smith scoring the winning

run and kept running and

running into left field before

succumbing to the mob of

Dodgers pursuing him. The

veteran wound up on his

back in the outfield grass at

the bottom of another joy-

ous celebration.

“It just seems like every

day,” Roberts said, “there’s

somebody different that

you’re pouring Gatorade

on.”

Martin comes

through big time

DODGERS SHORTSTOPCorey Seager is hit by an Andrew Miller pitch in the

ninth inning in front of St. Louis catcher Matt Wieters. Seager scored the Dod-

gers’ first run on a two-run, walk-off single by Russell Martin.

Myung J. ChunLos Angeles Times

[Dodgers,from D1]