In the box score of Sunday’s dramatic 13-inning 1-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, Dodgers rookie phenom Joc Pederson is painfully listed as going 0 for 5 with three strikeouts and two ground outs – his first 0-fer since being moved into the leadoff spot four days ago. But even though the 23-year-old Palo Alto native was but a strikeout away from a golden sombrero, he had a huge impact on the dramatic finish.

After being involved in one of the most incredible defensive plays you will ever see in the top of the 13th inning of a scoreless ballgame, Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal led off the bottom of the 13th inning with a monster 424-foot walk-off home run to left-center field off of Dbacks right-handed reliever Evan Marshall – a home run that Joc Pederson had a lot to do with.

“I thought about back to where Joc took him deep last night, he hit a fastball” Grandal told reporters after the game. “I know he has a pretty good fastball, he’s in the upper nineties. I don’t actually know if he’s comfortable throwing it but I just wanted to go look for a fastball and he was able to give me one and I just took a good swing … I’ve been trying to be a little bit more aggressive lately.”

Grandal’s 13th inning walk-off home run was the first by a Dodger in a scoreless extra-inning game since Yasiel Puig’s famous slide-off home run against the Reds on July 28, 2013.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

Ironically, Grandal did not start the game at catcher but was brought in to pinch hit for A.J. Ellis in the 10th inning with Andre Ethier having led off the inning with a double. Although Grandal is hitting only .230 on the season (as compared to Ellis’s .130), he is coming off of a 3 for 4 game on Saturday night night and appears to be heating up at the plate – apparently a result of that “more aggressive” thing.

Grandal’s walk-off hit, the second of his career and first walk-off home run, would have only been a game-tying home run had he and Dodgers left-hander J.P. Howell not made a great play in the top half of the inning.

After getting two quick ground outs, Howell gave up back-to-back singles to Dbacks catcher Jordan Pacheco and third baseman Aaron Hill putting runners at the corners. Howell then uncorked a wild pitch on a breaking ball to Dbacks shortstop Cliff Pennington that bounced a foot in front of the plate and deflected off of Grandal’s right forearm. The ball went about ten yards to Grandal’s right and Pacheco broke for home. Howell ran to home to cover the plate arriving just as Grandal’s underhand toss also arrived. Having no time to turn around to see where Pacheco was, Howell dropped straight down on his butt and made a blind sweeping tag behind his back that Pacheco slid into with his left foot and was clearly out.

“It was a lucky bounce, man, a great feed by Yaz,” Howell said. “I was just trying to get in his way a little bit, not block, but tag him. I knew I was there, right in the middle of [the plate]. I just put it down and hoped he didn’t do a creative slide and get around it.

Just like they drew it up, well… sort of.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

As crazy as the play was, it was actually something that pitchers and catchers work on quite a bit during spring training.

“Yeah, it was just like we drew it up,” Howell kidded. “We do work on those things, that’s why the feed was money from Yaz and that’s what it’s all about.”

Although it appeared as though Pacheco may have spiked Howell on the play, the good natured lefty said that he did not.

“No, all leather so it was good. Just a little tap,” said Howell.

The downside to the four-hour two-minute long marathon is that Dodgers manager Don Mattingly had to used his entire bullpen – stay for right-hander Chris Hatcher. And while this could create a problem for the Dodgers skipper with the team embarking out on a seven-game road trip, Mattingly is glad to be leaving Dodger Stadium with a win rather than a loss.

“At that point late in the game, honestly I know it felt really good, but you don’t feel like you’ve got any momentum either way because you’re pretty much out of bullets, you’re out of players,” Mattingly said. “You’re just kind of like in a situation where you’re pretty much in a game that you don’t want to be in. You want to get out of that game and get you a W.”