Matt Beaty’s walk-off homer caps historic night from Walker Buehler

Friday night at Dodger Stadium was something special. 24 hours after being sent down to Triple-A, Matt Beaty was recalled back up and started for the Dodgers. If you would have asked him yesterday where he thought he’d be at around 9:15 p.m. on Friday evening, it’s unlikely his answer would have been crossing home plate after hitting a walk-off two-run home run at Dodger Stadium. That was the case, as his homer gave the Dodgers the 4-2 victory over the Rockies.

Prior to the home run, the hero of the night was Walker Buehler. From the first hitter he faced until the last, Buehler had arguably the best stuff of his career. He struck out 16 batters, a career-high, and the most by a Dodger player since Hideo Nomo in 1996.

He went nine innings for the first time his career, and allowed only two runs, both of which came via the home run. On top of all that, he also allowed zero walks, becoming the first player in franchise history to have 16 strikeouts and zero walks in a game.

Max Muncy extended his on-base streak to 30 games with a lead-off single in the second inning. An interesting string of events led him to wind up at third base. Matt Beaty lined out to Brendan Rodgers, but his throw to first hit Muncy and ended up in the Rockies dugout, allowing him to advance to third base.

Chris Taylor, who’s been one of the hottest hitters for LA the past week, brought Muncy in with a sacrifice fly to put the Dodgers ahead by one.

They’d tack on another run in the fourth, thanks to Cody Bellinger’s 25th homer of the season. With this homer, Bellinger matched his total number of home runs from 2018, in less than half of the games played.

Friday particulars

WP: Walker Buehler (8-1) 9 IP, 2 ER, 16 SO, 0 BB

LP: Jairo Diaz (1-2) ²⁄₃ IP, 2 ER

Home runs: Cody Bellinger (25) Nolan Arenado (19) Charlie Blackmon (18) Matt Beaty (2)

Up next

The Dodgers will send Hyun-Jin Ryu to the mound on Saturday to try and get the series win. First pitch is at 4:15 p.m.