The makings of Gavin Lux’s redemptive walk-off hit to prevent a four-game Phillies sweep Sunday at Dodger Stadium began with a piece of advice from Justin Turner.
After striking out for the second time in his first two at-bats and committing a costly error that allowed four unearned runs to score in Dodger pitching prospect Michael Grove’s Major League debut, Lux made an in-game adjustment based on Turner’s tips. Then he helped the Dodgers erase their four-run deficit and end their four-game losing skid, shaking off the early mistake to deliver the club’s first walk-off win of the year with a double off former Dodger Corey Knebel.
“JT actually spotted something really good,” Lux explained after the 5–4 win. “When I was going good, I was 60–40 in my setup, backloaded. He spotted it actually, and he was like, ‘Hey, you’re a little more 50–50. You’re shifting. Your head is kind of all over the place.’”
Lux began to try to find the right feel in the on-deck circle. Three innings after his second strikeout, Lux walked and scored to cut the deficit to a run. In the ninth, a two-out triple from Cody Bellinger and a walk from Chris Taylor set Lux up to redeem his early error.
The Dodgers were still chasing the four runs the Phillies scored after a grounder that should have ended the second inning. The ball got by Lux at second base, allowing one run to score. The inning avalanched from there on Grove, who was making his first ever start above the Double-A level. Another run came in on an RBI ground-rule double. Two more runs followed on a two-run single.
“Grover was rolling, it’s his debut, and you want to make the play,” Lux said. “So, obviously, you feel bad. You just try to make up for it after that and try to make every play, just move on. But yeah, it’s tough, especially in that situation.”
It was the only trouble spot of the day for Grove, the Dodgers’ 2018 second-round pick who was called upon with Clayton Kershaw and Andrew Heaney on the shelf. He put the Phillies down in order in the first inning, including a strikeout of Alec Bohm. After the taxing second inning, Grove composed himself to allow only the four unearned runs in 3 2/3 innings.
“It’s my job to keep making pitches,” Grove said. “In that inning, I don’t think I did a great job of that after the error. But the next couple of innings just being able to put up a zero and get a couple more outs and get our bullpen a little deeper into the game, I thought was important.”
The Dodger comeback began with a solo homer from Mookie Betts, who later added an RBI double for his fourth extra-base hit in the last three days. The Dodgers had knocked on the door of a comeback multiple times throughout the series but couldn’t get the final hit they needed.
On Thursday, the Dodgers mounted their largest comeback of the year overcoming a 7–1 deficit only for the Phillies to win in the ninth. One night later, a game-tying home run from Turner sent the game to extra innings, where the Phillies won after the Dodgers failed to capitalize with the bases loaded and no outs.
With the Phillies close to their first four-game sweep at Dodger Stadium since 1985, Lux delivered the hit that had eluded the Dodgers on recent nights.
“It’s huge,” said manager Dave Roberts. “I don’t want to say it’s the biggest win of the year — it’s a small sample — but right now, this is a big one.”
When Bellinger legged out his triple, putting the tying run 90 feet away, he assumed that might take Knebel’s curveball out of the equation to avoid a pitch getting away. Knebel threw six straight fastballs to Taylor, four of which missed the zone. He threw two more to Lux, both of which were called balls, then dropped in a curveball for a strike.
Lux attacked the next curveball he saw to record the first walk-off hit he could recall in his professional career, helping the Dodgers avoid their first five-game losing streak since 2019. After rounding second, Lux was swarmed by his teammates at third base as they trickled out of the home dugout.
“Errors happen,” Bellinger said. “Mental errors happen. Physical errors happen. To come out on top of that in a big moment right there, it’s important for him.”
The Rotation Plan
The Dodgers plan to start Tony Gonsolin on Monday and Walker Buehler on Wednesday. Roberts said Tyler Anderson will start one of the two doubleheader games on Tuesday, with the other to be determined. Ryan Pepiot, who was optioned on Thursday, is “in the mix” for that start.
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