Max Muncy’s game-ending RBI single in the ninth inning gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a 3-2 victory over the visiting Detroit Tigers on Tuesday to extend their winning streak to five games while closing in on a top-two seed in the National League playoffs.
Mookie Betts singled with one out in the ninth inning against Tigers right-hander Alex Lange (7-5), went to second when Will Smith was hit by a pitch with two outs and scored just ahead of the throw home after Muncy’s single.
David Peralta had an RBI double in the eighth inning to tie the score 2-2 and J.D. Martinez hit a home run in the fourth en route to reaching base four times.
Dodgers right-hander Ryan Pepiot entered in the second inning and gave up one run on five hits over six innings. Alex Vesia (2-5) pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn the win. The Dodgers improved to 93-57 and are 8 1/2 games ahead of Milwaukee for No. 2 spot in the NL playoffs. Atlanta leads Los Angeles by 3 1/2 games.
Spencer Torkelson and Parker Meadows hit home runs for the Tigers (70-81), while Miguel Cabrera had a seventh-inning single for the 3,167th hit of his career to move into sole possession of 17th on the all-time list.
Detroit lost the first two games of the series after they entered with 11 victories in their previous 16 games. The Tigers are 3-2 halfway through a 10-game California road trip.
The Tigers got to Dodgers opener Caleb Ferguson in the first inning when Torkelson hit a two-out home run to left-center field, his 29th of the season.
Detroit made it 2-0 in the third inning when Meadows took Pepiot over the wall in center field for his second homer in his 27th career game.
The Dodgers cut the deficit in half in the fourth inning when Martinez hit a home run to center against Tyler Holton. It was Martinez’s 29th of the season and his third in consecutive days against his former club.
After Martinez singled with two outs in the eighth inning, he was replaced by pinch runner Chris Taylor, who stole second base on the first pitch from Lange. Peralta followed with an RBI double down the left field line, ending an 0-for-19 skid, to tie the score 2-2.
–Field Level Media