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“Wild thing.

You make my heart sing.

You make everything groovy.

Wild thing.”

(The Troggs – 1966)

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Walk-off home runs happen pretty regularly in Major League Baseball, walk-off base hits even more so. Heck, even walk-off walks and balks happen from time to time.

But a walk-off wild pitch? Yes, they have happened in the past, but it’s one of those things that you have to Google to find out when it last happened, especially for the 2023 National League West first-place Los Angeles Dodgers.

Not any more.

It happened in the 11th inning of Saturday night’s three hour and 15-minute-long game between the Dodgers and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in our nation’s capitol which also included a painful four hour and 10 minute-long rain delay.

Having already used 24-year-old Dodgers starter Bobby Miller for a solid 7.0 innings and relievers Shelby Miller, Brusdar Graterol, and Ryan Brasier (who blew a 5-4 Dodgers lead in the bottom of the 10th), Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called upon 26-year-old rookie right-hander Gus Varland to keep the game tied at 6-6.

He did not.

Instead, the Maplewood, MN native and 14th-round draft pick in 2018 by the Oakland Athletics and re-acquired by the Dodgers on May 22, 2023 from the Milwaukee Brewers gave up a sacrifice bunt to Nationals center fielder Jacob Young to move placed pinch-runner Michael Chavis to third base. Varland then intentionally walked Nats shortstop CJ Abrams to hopefully set up a double play. Instead, Nationals designated hitter Lane Thomas grounded in to a force out from drawn-in Dodgers left-fielder Chris Taylor to second baseman Kiké Hernández, with Chavis holding at third base, now with two outs.

But just when it appeared as though Varland was going to somehow escape the inning and on his first pitch to Nationals pinch-hitter Joey Meneses, he allowed Chavis to score the game-winning run on a rare walk-off wild pitch.

“It sucks to lose, it doesn’t feel good, certainly the way we lost the game,” Roberts told reporters postgame without getting into specifics on ‘…the way we lost the game.’ “But I thought there was a lot of good things, whether it be big at-bats, some defensive plays, some pitches that were made. Yeah, I mean, there was a lot of good things going on still, too,” Roberts added, focusing on the good while completely avoiding the bad.

But, today’s another day.

…weather permitting.

Play Ball!

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