Advertisement

Dodgers offense produces the fireworks in 7-5 win over Orioles

Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager hits a triple to right field during the seventh inning.
(Alex Gallardo / Associated Press)
Share

The thunder started to roll outside Dodger Stadium in Monday’s sixth inning, as night fell upon Los Angeles and fireworks crackled all around the city. Inside the ballpark, in a July 4 game marked by offensive barrages, the loudest roar would come an inning later.

The stadium rippled with excitement as Corey Seager led off the seventh inning with a triple. The cheers drowned out the citywide pyrotechnics when Justin Turner brought him home with a sacrifice fly, driving in the go-ahead run in a 7-5 victory by the Dodgers over the Baltimore Orioles.

In winning for the fifth time in a row, the Dodgers surmounted a shaky, brief effort from rookie starter Julio Urias. The bullpen suppressed the explosive lineup of the Orioles for the game’s final 17 outs as the offense overcame a three-run deficit.

Advertisement

“That showed a lot of the character that we have,” closer Kenley Jansen said. “That we never quit today. We’ve just got to keep going now.”

After sweeping the Colorado Rockies over the weekend, the Dodgers relied upon their offense once more. Chase Utley delivered a pair of two-out hits to drive in runs. Yasiel Puig and Yasmani Grandal supplied home runs. Seager remained a force, charging toward an All-Star appearance in his first full season.

Seager makes the life of a rookie look easy. Urias, the 19-year-old left-hander, serves as a reminder of its difficulties. On Tuesday, Manager Dave Roberts said, the team will demote Urias, who has a 4.95 earned-run average in eight starts, with Brandon McCarthy back from the disabled list and Hyun-Jin Ryu slated to rejoin the rotation on Thursday. Urias allowed five runs in 31/3 innings Monday.

Roberts said he expected Urias to go to triple-A Oklahoma City. He is likely to be shut down to preserve his innings for later in the season. Urias said team officials told him they would call him in a few days to discuss the plan going forward.

“Obviously, I would love to be here, love to spend the rest of my career here,” Urias said through an interpreter. “But everything is for the best. I’m going to try to come back.”

Advertisement

Urias ripped through the first inning in 10 pitches. The next inning was far more taxing. Baltimore squeezed 41 pitches out of him in the second and scored two runs.

Urias allowed a leadoff single to outfielder Mark Trumbo and walked first baseman Chris Davis. Both men advanced into scoring position on a fly ball to right.

With one out, Urias could not put away shortstop J.J. Hardy. In a 10-pitch at-bat, Hardy fouled off five offerings before stinging a two-run double into the right-center gap.

Urias allowed the Orioles lineup to turn over when he walked Yovani Gallardo, the opposing pitcher. Up came outfielder Adam Jones. Urias elevated a changeup. Jones smacked an RBI single up the middle. As Urias toiled, Pedro Baez warmed up in the Dodgers bullpen.

“The strike zone was a little tight, and I had to work with that,” Urias said. “It’s not an excuse. I have to keep working on my fastball and my slider and my curveball, every pitch.”

Roberts stuck with Urias through the inning. He would send him back out for the third. By then, the Dodgers had trimmed two runs off the deficit. To do so, the team hit back-to-back homers for the first time in 2016.

Advertisement

Puig struck first. He hammered a hanging curveball into the center-field bleachers, launching his second home run since he returned from the disabled list on June 21. Then Grandal clobbered a thigh-high slider from Gallardo.

Urias struck out Trumbo and Davis in a tidy third inning. But he recorded only one more out. Following a fourth-inning single by catcher Matt Wieters and a double by Hardy, outfielder Joey Rickard scored both men with a single.

Roberts allowed Urias to face one more batter. After Gallardo laid down a bunt, Roberts removed his starter. He would need his bullpen to survive the night.

The Dodgers benefited from the shaky pitching staff of their guests.

Utley notched an RBI single in the fourth, which put runners at the corners for Seager.

Gallardo picked up two strikes on Seager before trying to spot a 92-mph fastball on the outer half. Seager shot an opposite-field single through the left side of the infield to drive in a run. He extended his hitting streak to 17 games, the longest in the majors this season.

In the sixth, the Dodgers tied the score on an RBI single from Utley. An inning later Seager tripled and Turner powered him the final 90 feet.

“It was a team win,” Roberts said. “And the bullpen did a really nice job, again.”

Andy.mccullough@latimes.com

Advertisement

Twitter: @McCulloughTimes

Advertisement