OC Register: Dodgers come from behind to beat Angels

[AngelsWin.com]

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers weren’t about to lose two straight battles of the bullpens to the Angels.

Chris Taylor’s two-run double in the eighth lifted the Dodgers to a 5-3 victory over the Angels in the Freeway Series on Saturday night, splitting the first two games of this series.

The Angels, despite their bullpen issues, had held on for an extra-inning victory a night earlier.

Cody Bellinger had homered against Angels starter Jaime Barria in the seventh, tying the game and prompting Angels manager Joe Maddon to turn the game over to his short-handed bullpen.

Closer Raisel Iglesias had worked three days in a row and setup man Steve Cishek is on bereavement leave.

Junior Guerra entered in the eighth and gave up an infield single when first baseman Phil Gosselin couldn’t handle a hard smash. An out later, Will Smith singled into left. Taylor then drove in both with a double into the gap in left fielder.

Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen then finished it off with a scoreless ninth, although the relief performance of the night for the Dodgers had come an inning earlier.

The Angels played the Shohei Ohtani card in a tie game in the eighth inning, after singles by Kurt Suzuki and Jo Adell. With two outs and two on, Ohtani strode to the plate as a pinch-hitter while Dodger Stadium’s 50,808 fans roared.

Brusdar Graterol struck him out on a 101.5 mph fastball, punctuating it with a fist pump as the crowd roared.

Graterol ended up as the winning pitcher in a game that neither starter figured in the decision.

Barria gave up a pair of quick runs for the second time in three starts.

Barria issued a leadoff walk to Trea Turner and then gave up an RBI double to Max Muncy. Corey Seager drove in Muncy with a single through the drawn-in infield.

As he did two starts ago in Minnesota, Barria clamped down after the shaky start. He didn’t give up another run through seven innings in that game, and this time he didn’t allow anything else through six innings, before giving up a game-tying homer in the seventh.

Barria was particularly impressive in working out of a couple tight spots in the fourth and fifth innings.

In the fourth the Dodgers had runners at second and third with one out, but Barria got Bellinger on a foul pop.

Julio Urias then came to the plate leading National League pitchers with eight RBIs. He yanked a ground ball down the first base line, but Phil Gosselin smothered it and beat him to the bag to retire the side, preserving a 3-2 Angels lead.

On the mound, Urias had trouble in only one of his five innings, when the Angels scored three runs, two earned.

In the third inning, David Fletcher yanked a double into deep left-center with one out. José Iglesias then pulled a double down the third base line, driving in Fletcher.

Gosselin followed with a single up the middle to knock in Iglesias. Gosselin went to second on the throw to the plate.

That proved to be significant because, with two outs, Jo Adell hit a towering popup in the infield and Muncy, charging in from first base, dropped it. Gosselin scored on the play, putting the Angels up 3-2.

Although Urias didn’t give up another run in  his remaining two innings, the Angels prevented him from becoming baseball’s first 14-game winner.

More to come on this story.

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