The Walk Off: Dee Gordon helps Marlins win before PED suspension
Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.
Dee Gordon played what appears to be his last game for a while, as the Miami Marlins beat the Los Angeles Dodgers by the count of 5-3 on Thursday night. If nothing else, he made it memorable.
Gordon, if you missed the shocking news, was suspended 80 games by Major League Baseball shortly after Thursday night’s game because he tested positive for two performance-enhancing drugs. Before that went down, though, he was key in the Marlins’ comeback to beat the Dodgers and starting pitcher Kenta Maeda.
[From Jeff Passan: Miami’s Dee Gordon suspended 80 games for PEDs]
The Dodgers were up 2-1 in the seventh after Maeda had cruised through six innings. But as his pitch count climbed toward 100, things turned all bad. Maeda allowed singles to J.T. Realmuto and Adeiny Hechavarria in the seventh. There were two outs when Gordon stepped to the plate.
He delivered. Gordon’s single to left-center brought Realmuto around to tie the game. Maeda was yanked from the game right after, but the Marlins went on to score two more, taking a 4-2 lead. Their last run of the inning was Gordon, who was on third base and induced a balk from Dodgers pitcher Pedro Baez by flinching as he led off the base.
And while the Dodgers had their fair share of chances to win the game — Adrian Gonzalez left eight runners on base and was 0-for-4 with runners-in-scoring position — there will still be some bitterness about how this played out: Gordon wasn’t just tested after the game and suspended on the spot. This had been in the works. Yahoo Sports’ Tim Brown reports that Gordon dropped his appeal and told his teammates, which is what triggered the suspension.
Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander wasn’t even playing in this game, but he took exception to that fact. He tweeted this soon after the news broke about Gordon’s suspension.
Nonetheless, it’s an L for the Dodgers and a sweep for the Marlins. The Dodgers have now lost four straight.
TOP PERFORMERS
• Aaron Nola: Philadelphia Phillies ace-in-the-making Aaron Nola didn’t figure into the decision Thursday as the Phils shut out the Washington Nationals yet again, but Nola did his part. He pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out seven. The Phillies didn’t score until the ninth when they got three across and secured the 3-0 win.
• Manny Machado: He had 5 RBIs in the Baltimore Orioles’ 10-2 win over the Chicago White Sox, four of which came on a sixth-inning grand slam. He also had an RBI double. Machado now has seven homers and an OPS of 1.068 for the season.
• Rubby De La Rosa: The Arizona Diamondbacks starter was spectacular Thursday night. He pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out 10 against the St. Louis Cardinals. The D-backs won the game 3-0 as De La Rosa improved to 3-3 with what’s easily his best start of his season.
MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT
Here’s that Machado grand slam.
THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD
• Cubs 7, Brewers 2: Jake Arrieta still got the win in his no-hitter follow-up, but he looked mortal. The Cubs ace pitched just five innings, allowing a run on three hits and walking four. Still enough for the Cubs to win, though.
• Tigers 7, A’s 3: The Tigers knocked 11 hits and scored all seven of their runs in the third and fourth innings to down Oakland. Even Justin Upton had a hit and RBI.
• Braves 5, Red Sox 3: The Braves snapped their eight-game losing streak and got their fifth win of the season. Nick Markakis had four hits and three RBIs to lead Atlanta.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
