MLB Rankings: Greatest Hits in Week-12
10. Alex Verdugo, 42 percent
The Dodgers-Rockies game Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles was a back-and-forth affair. Three different times the Rockies assumed a lead only to see Los Angeles come back and tie matters.
With Hyun-Jin Ryu making the start, things looked favorable for the team with baseball’s best record. Ryu of course is 9-1 with a 1.27 ERA. Still Colorado hitters got a piece of him Saturday, posting three runs by the third inning. Uncharacteristically, Ryu was gone after six, having managed nothing more productive than a 3-3 tie.
The Rockies took their third lead in the seventh on Raimel Tapia‘s home run off Ryu’s replacement, Caleb Ferguson. But Matt Beaty — more on him later — responded with a run-producing single in the bottom of the eighth to affix the game’s third tie.
Eventually, Beaty’s hit also moved the game into extra innings.
That’s where Verdugo comes in. He almost contributed to a Dodger win in the bottom of the ninth when his one-out single moved Joc Pederson into scoring position. But Justin Turner and Corey Bellinger both fanned.
In the 11th, Verdugo elected not to count on the guys behind him in the Dodger lineup. Facing Jesus Tinoco, he ripped a one-out, 1-1 pitch down the right field line and over the low wall for a walk-off winner.
The hit extended the Dodgers’ seeming invincibility at home, where they have a 33-9 record in 2019.