The stadium was half-empty. The lead was five runs. The game looked all but over.
Then, disaster struck.
Entering the bottom of the ninth inning on Saturday afternoon at Comerica Park, the Dodgers appeared to be cruising to a second-straight, series-clinching win over the Detroit Tigers.
Their offense had gotten back on track, producing its best game in more than a week. The team’s banged-up pitching staff had held up, settling down after rookie Justin Wrobleski gave up four runs (three earned) in a five-inning start. And, with a 9-4 lead over a mediocre Tigers offense, nothing hinted at a forthcoming implosion.
No way, it seemed, the Dodgers would be in any sort of danger.
Then, everything changed
The Dodgers’ 11-9 defeat to the Tigers wasn’t cemented until Gio Urshela’s walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th, a towering drive that thrilled what remained of a 40,196 in downtown Detroit.
It was the ninth inning, though, that will give the club nightmares going into Sunday’s first-half finale — one the Dodgers, now losers of five of their last six and nine of their last 14, will need to win to enter the All-Star break with a series victory.
The fateful frame began with three Tigers hits off Dodgers reliever Ricky Vanasco, the recently recalled right-hander who hadn’t previously pitched in a game — majors or minors — in the last 10 days.
The last of those hits, a two-run double from Matt Vierling, trimmed the Dodgers’ lead to 9-6.
Still, with lockdown closer Evan Phillips emerging from the bullpen, the Dodgers’ lead appeared to be safe.
Phillips retired his first two batters, putting the Tigers on the brink of defeat.
Even after an RBI single from Carson Kelly, a worst-case scenario felt out of reach.
But then, Phillips threw a first-pitch cutter to Tigers infielder Colt Keith. The location was bad, with Phillips running the ball just off the inner half of the plate. Keith was ready for it, turning on the throw with a thunderous swing.
Right fielder Teoscar Hernández drifted back on the ball, and made a leaping effort as he crashed into the wall.
Keith’s drive had just enough behind it, though, clanging off the metal gate barricading the first row of outfield seats.
