{"id":749078,"date":"2026-06-20T15:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T15:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/749078\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T15:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T15:34:18","slug":"dalton-rushing-helps-cap-dodgers-wild-walk-off-win-over-orioles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/749078\/","title":{"rendered":"Dalton Rushing helps cap Dodgers’ wild walk-off win over Orioles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dalton Rushing<\/a> was frustrated. He just chased a slider in the dirt \u2014 again. And this time, the game was on the line. The Dodgers<\/a> were down to their last out. He was down to his last strike.<\/p>\n

So he took a moment, took a breath, and looked to the Dodgers dugout.<\/p>\n

The first person he spotted was Mookie Betts<\/a>, who had just cut the Orioles\u2019 lead to a run with a solo homer. Betts was locked in with Rushing, brimming with confidence, cheering him on.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a guy like that, a guy that\u2019s lived in that moment, he\u2019s succeeded in that moment, he\u2019s failed in that moment, he knows what it feels like, it\u2019s pretty special,\u201d Rushing recounted.<\/p>\n

Rushing\u2019s eyes traveled along the railing, noting his teammates all on the top step, all relying on him.<\/p>\n

He dug into the box, expecting the slider that Baltimore\u2019s Ryan Helsley threw next \u2014 it was high, for a ball. Then Rushing got a fastball he could drive. And he did not miss.<\/p>\n

The next moments in the Dodgers\u2019 6-5 walk-off win<\/a> Friday were chaos.<\/p>\n

Rushing lined a tying single into right field, giving Alex Call<\/a> time to score from second. Call slid across the plate as the throw from Orioles right fielder Tyler O\u2019Neill<\/a> took for a long hop to catcher Samuel Basallo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Basallo misjudged it, taking an unhurried shuffle up the line, before the ball glanced off his glove and rolled toward the Dodgers dugout.<\/p>\n

Third base coach Dino Ebel waved home Ryan Ward<\/a>, who scored standing up.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Manager Dave Roberts<\/a>, who looked down at his card when the throw was in the air, was already thinking through extra innings when the crowd erupted again. He heard field coordinator Bob Geren shouting something like, \u201cThe run counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers (49-27) ran onto the field and swarmed Rushing, who had just reached second. They jumped and yelled as the Dodgers Stadium lights flashed around them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was good to get Freddie [Freeman] a night off for being the guy in the middle for a change, you know?\u201d Rushing said with a grin. \u201cNo, it\u2019s a great feeling, and I think it honestly just feels great that we won that baseball game.\u201d<\/p>\n

For several innings, it looked like they wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\"Dalton <\/p>\n

Dalton Rushing celebrates after hitting a run-scoring single in the ninth to help lift the Dodgers to a 6-5 walk-off win over the Baltimore Orioles at Dodger Stadium.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

The Dodgers had jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, on a two-run single from Max Muncy in the first inning and an RBI double from Andy Pages in the second. Then their scoring dried up.<\/p>\n

Rushing was having as frustrating of a night as anyone, with a line out and three strikeouts.<\/p>\n

His first strikeout was part of a brutal sequence. The Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs in the third. Then Ward, Rushing and Alex Freeland, all went down swinging.<\/p>\n

Rushing struck out on a slider in the dirt. And Orioles starter Trey Gibson got him to bite on the same putaway pitch in the fifth.<\/p>\n

Rushing\u2019s reactions steadily grew more animated, on the field and in the dugout.<\/p>\n

\"Mookie <\/p>\n

Mookie Betts celebrates as he runs the bases after hitting a solo home run in the ninth inning Friday against the Orioles.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\"Alex <\/p>\n

Alex Freeland signals safe after sliding past Baltimore catcher Samuel Basallo to score on a double by Andy Pages in the second inning Friday.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe plays with a fire under his ass,\u201d Freeland said. \u201cHe gets after it. He expects nothing but the best for himself day in and day out, and that comes with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Roberts: \u201cAfter he … vents, he does a good job of collecting himself to get back into the next play, the next at-bat, catching.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, he was catching Roki Sasaki<\/a>, who faced just one batter over the minimum through five innings. But during the third time through the order, the Orioles finally figured him out and hit back-to-back home runs.<\/p>\n

With two outs and a runner on, Sasaki yanked a splitter to the inside edge of the strike zone to Gunnar Henderson, who lifted it over the wall in right field. Pete Alonso then homered to left-center field on an inside fastball about belt high to tie the score.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he threw the baseball really well,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI liked the way he competed. The fastball command was good. He was fantastic tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Orioles (35-42) pulled ahead against the Dodgers bullpen. Will Klein surrendered a seventh-inning single to Jackson that sent two baserunners, including one inherited from Dodgers left-hander Jack Dreyer, across the plate.<\/p>\n

Kyle Hurt and Blake Treinen threw clean eighth and ninth innings.<\/p>\n

Finally, in the bottom of the ninth, Betts ended the Dodgers\u2019 scoring drought. Then Muncy \u2014 later replaced by the pinch-running Call \u2014 and Ward drew walks.<\/p>\n

With two outs, Rushing stepped up to the plate, fell behind in the count 0-2 and reset.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look in the dugout, and all those guys care about is that next pitch, and the next pitch after that, and the next pitch after that,\u201d Rushing said. \u201cThey just want you to win one pitch at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, that\u2019s what he did.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dalton Rushing was frustrated. He just chased a slider in the dirt \u2014 again. And this time, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[33146,64,63,5783,12423,45758,5138,359852,591,95448,5129,1831,70908,173221,85,44887,32288,359851,8935],"class_list":["post-749078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-alex-call","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bullpen","tag-dalton-rushing","tag-dodger","tag-dodgers","tag-kyle-hurt","tag-mlb","tag-ninth-inning","tag-orioles","tag-pete-alonso","tag-right-field","tag-ryan-ward","tag-sports","tag-strike-zone","tag-suit","tag-walk-off-rally","tag-win"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}