Los Angeles Dodger Beat Diamonbacks After Drawing Five Straight Walks

The Los Angeles Dodgers walked off against the Arizona Diamondbacks in perhaps the most literal way possible Tuesday night, as they indeed put the “walk” in “walk off” for their league–high 58th win.

Once reaching the ninth inning during a game in which the Dodgers uncharacteristically missed opportunity after opportunity to bring runners in and take the lead, the Dodgers found themselves trailing by a run and one more out away from dropping the game. At this point, ESPN gave the Diamondbacks a 97.9% win chance prior to the next at bat. Arizona closer Greg Holland even chopped down the Dodgers to their last strike during the ninth, however he next kicked and dealt his first of many pitches to miss the zone after getting ahead with an 0–2 count. After continuing to miss his targets, Holland walked hitter Chris Taylor, who battled back from that dangerous 0–2 count.

With Taylor now at first, Russell Martin stepped into the box with looking to keep the Dodgers alive as well. After initially falling behind, Martin drew a walk too, nearly mirroring Taylor’s at bat before him as Holland continued to slip. The back–to–back walks eventually warranted a mound visit from pitching coach Mike Butcher. Despite his efforts, Butcher failed to settle down the quickly deteriorating Holland, as he proceed to walk yet another hitter, this time on only five pitches.

With the bases now loaded, Holland proved unable to stop the bleeding once more, walking the next batter to grant passage home for the tying run. Dodgers slugger Cody Bellinger stepped up to the plate next, with the go–ahead run just 90–feet away. After working a 1–1 count, Bellinger imitated his teammates, taking pitch after pitch until Holland missed for the final time as Bellinger drew the team’s fifth straight walk, this one to win the game for Los Angeles.

“You practice quality at-bats,” explained Bellinger after the game. “That’s what I was trying to do. That leads to walks.” In this case, these walks lead to perhaps the most strangest victory in recent memory at Dodger Stadium. Holland walked off the mound nearly just as shocked as the Dodgers, as after the game he stated, “I felt pretty good out there and then I just completely lost command of the strike zone altogether. We had them beat and I let it slip away.”

The game’s exciting finale tacked on a fourth straight walk off home victory for the Dodgers, however this walk–off’s true absurdity certainly forces it to stand out above the rest.

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Article by Collin Helwig