Saturday night’s exciting bottom of the ninth 5-4 walk-off win over the Cincinnati Reds was the fourth walk-off win of the season for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ team and was predicated on a decision made by the defending 2016 National League Manager of the Year … only he didn’t know it at the time.

How so. you ask? Allow me to digress.

Dodgers veteran second baseman Chase Utley was having a huge night on Saturday, with the extremely popular 38-year-old leadoff hitter having gone 3-for-4 on the night with two doubles and a single. In fact, the only time that the Reds were able to get the Pasadena, California native out was on a fly ball to deep right-center field that missed going out by a mere five feet or so. In other words, he was exactly who Dodger fans wanted to see at the plate with one out in the bottom of the ninth and runners at first and second in a tied ballgame.

Lost in the fray was the outstanding pitching performance by Dodgers left-hander Alex Wood. Even though the 26-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native would not figure in the decision, he struck out seven and walked none in his 5.2 innings of work on Saturday night.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

No sooner had Utley’s name been announced when Reds manager Bryan Price decided to bring in left-hander Tony Cingrani to replace right-handed reliever Drew Storen, who had given up back-to-back one-out singles to Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig and pinch-hitter Justin Turner. Price’s thought, of course, was that he wanted a left-hander to either face the left-handed-hitting Utley or force Roberts to take the bat out of the hot-hitting veteran’s hand.

Roberts chose the latter.

“That was a tough one, that was a tough one for me,” Roberts said, of his decision to pull Utley and go with right-handed pinch-hitter Franklin Gutierrez, who was 11-for-43 (.256) with 12 strikeouts at the time. “I sort of look at every game differently and each pitcher differently with the handedness. I think about guys … I haven’t given Chase many opportunities against left-handed pitching and [Utley] throughout his career has been very good against left-handed pitching. So you take the fact that [Cingrani] has pitched well against left-handed hitting it was almost, for me, putting a player in a tough spot and maybe unfair. So I think that I still like Gutie in the box against a left-handed pitcher and that’s the decision I made.

“But Chase had a really good night, but I think, again, I wouldn’t want that to … and it could have went the other way, but again, if [Price] puts a different pitcher in there, it’s an entirely different at-bat. So if they would have left Storen in there, but that’s what Bryan went to, wanted to go to the bench for us, so that was the decision I made. But it was a tough one.”

Gutierrez struck out.

However, by striking out, Gutierrez did not hit into what would have been an inning-ending double play that would have sent the game into extra innings but instead brought Corey Seager – yet another left-handed hitter – to the plate with runners still at first and second. Roberts did not pinch-hit for the reigning 2016 NL Rookie of the Year and, on the very first pitch he saw, the 23-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native pushed an opposite field double into the left field corner for the walk-off win.

“I’ve never really kind of been uncomfortable (against left-handed pitching). My numbers were probably actually better in the minor leagues against lefties than righties,” Seager said, about facing Cingrani with the game on the line. “For whatever reason, up here the guys are more specialists, they’re a little better, whatever the reason it has been, but the confidence has never left.”

Seager, who has a history of swinging at first-pitch fastballs, did exactly that off of Reds left-hander Tony Cingrani for an opposite field double to give the Dodgers the 5-4 walk-off win on Saturday night.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Ironically – and almost unbelievably – it was Seager’s first walk-off hit at any level, including Little League.

“That was the first one… first one. It was pretty cool,” Seager said. “No high school, no summer ball, no anything. No minor leagues or nothing.”

So there it is. Roberts’ decision to pull the hot-hitting Chase Utley against a lefty for Franklin Gutierrez, who strikes out but doesn’t hit into a double play, and then the left-handed-hitting Corey Seager hits an opposite field double to score Puig to give the Dodgers the exciting 5-4 walk-off win.

Dave Roberts is a genius … even if he didn’t realize it at the time.