Pederson, Puig power Dodgers to another comeback win
by Rowan Kavner
Only two National League pitchers have at least 14 wins this year. Both are All-Stars.
And both are Dodgers.
In a battle of 13-game winners Wednesday night between Alex Wood and Zack Greinke, it was the former moving to 14 wins (14–1) and joining teammate Clayton Kershaw (15–2) as the only NL 14-game winners after a 3–2 comeback victory to even the series against the Diamondbacks.
“I think it’s more a testament to the guys on our team,” Wood said. “It’s literally been a different guy every night.”
On Wednesday, it was Wood, the bullpen and the No. 7 and No. 8 hitters in the Dodger lineup leading them to their 34th (edit) comeback win of the year and moving them to 68–0 when leading after eight innings.
“It just shows we can come back and get teams late, and our bullpen’s good enough to shut them down late,” said Joc Pederson, whose RBI double tied the game at 2 before scoring the go-ahead run.
The Dodgers only had one hit prior to the seventh inning, and it came off the bat of Cody Bellinger, who belted his 33rd home run of the year in the second inning on an inside fastball from Greinke in Bellinger’s first ever at-bat against him.
Bellinger’s now homered against 15 different teams this year, but he wasn’t done there. In the seventh, Bellinger began the inning with his 18th double of the year, giving him seven extra-base hits in eight August games.
Then, more of his Dodger teammates started getting to Greinke.
The Dodgers trailed 2–1 after Wood allowed two runs in six innings, marking Wood’s 10th quality start of the season. But the Dodgers, who moved to 43–6 when their pitcher makes a quality start, would need more offensively to get Wood his 14th win.
They got it first from Pederson, who snapped an 0-for-23 skid by knocking in Bellinger with an RBI double for his first hit of the month in the seventh inning.
“You could see the exhale when he got to first base and that boyish smile,” said manager Dave Roberts. “He’s a big part of what we’re trying to do.”
The next hitter was Puig, who knocked Pederson in with an RBI single that ended Greinke’s night and put the Dodgers ahead for good.
Puig also walked twice and now has six walks in his last six games. He’s hitting .308 with a .438 OBP in August, leading all Dodger players with at least 20 at-bats in OBP this month.
“He’s been great all year,” Wood said. “The defense, the offense the way he’s swinging the bat, it’s been fun to watch.”
The Dodgers needed it against the Diamondbacks, a team the Dodgers know they could see again in October. It didn’t feel like the typical Aug. 9 contest.
“There was a little bit more,” Roberts said. “Each day we try to approach it the same, but when you’ve got one of the best in Zack Greinke out there and one of our best in Alex Wood taking the mound, it’s something our players look forward to.”
Early on, Wood’s fastball was around 92–94 mph consistently, back up to normal following some fatigue after his last start. While he started to rely more on his offspeed pitches the later the game went, Wood still provided plenty to give the Dodgers a chance to win.
And Kenley Jansen made sure it ended that way.
Four of the last five matchups between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks have been decided by a run. All four of those one-run games have gone the Dodgers’ way, with plenty of help from Jansen, who earned his 29th save Wednesday night and hasn’t allowed a hit in August.
The Dodgers are now 56–10 when allowing three runs or fewer. They’re also the first team in baseball to 80 wins. No other NL team has more than 67 wins.
Arizona’s not far behind at 64 victories, and the Dodgers have one more game against the Diamondbacks this series with Yu Darvish on the mound Thursday to try to ensure they don’t drop their first series since June 5–7.
“Diamondbacks not going to go anywhere,” Jansen said.
