Over the course of a 162-game regular season, winning – or losing – one game is no big deal, right?

Yeah, well, try telling that to this 53,203 who were on hand at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night, or to the millions more watching on television or listening on the radio, as the NL West first-place Los Angeles Dodgers pulled off a thrilling 6-4 win over the AL East second-place Baltimore Orioles to take two of three from the Os.

The two-hour and 55-minute contest between two teams that many believe will square off in this year’s World Series ranks right up there as one of the most exciting – and most uncomfortable – games of the 2024 regular season. And even though the final score of 6-3 might not jump out at you as a nail-biter, it was every bit one, this in spite of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts‘ team jumping out to an early 5-0 lead after four innings.

But before you could run up to the concession stand (or the refrigerator at home) to grab another beer, that comfortable (if there is such a thing) 4-0 Dodger lead soon became a far-less-comfortable 5-3 lead.

And then things really got interesting … and very uncomfortable.

In the top of the fifth, 25-year-old Dodgers right-handed starter Bobby Miller hit Orioles designated hitter Eloy Jiménez with a pitch. He then got O’s center fielder Cedric Mullins to ground into a 6-4 force out for the first out of the inning, with Mullins replacing Jiménez at first base. Miller then walked O’s third baseman Ramón Urías and got got second baseman Jackson Holliday to ground into a 3-6 force out, with Urías taking third base on the play and Holliday replacing Mullins at first.

And then it happened.

On a 3-1 count, Miller gave O’s left fielder Colton Cowser a 97.9-mph four-seam fastball that was right down Broadway, which Cowser promptly deposited 397 feet into the Left Field Pavilion in left-center field for a three-run home run to make it an uncomfortable 5-3 ballgame.

…but not for long.

With two outs in the top of the seventh inning, 37-year-old Dodgers right-hander Daniel Hudson gave up a single to Holiday and walked Cowser and O’s catcher Adley Rutschman to load the bases, to which Roberts replaced Hudson with 36-year-old Dodgers right-hander Blake Treinen. After two quick balls and two quick called strikes to Gunnar Henderson, the Orioles shortstop fouled off Treinen’s next two pitches. But on Treinen’s seventh pitch of the at-bat, he got Henderson to chase his 90.9-mph cutter to end the very uncomfortable threat.

“He was really good tonight. Those were the biggest outs of the game for us,” Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes said postgame of Treinen’s two innings of relief. “You know, just to bridge us to the eighth and ninth and, you know, giving that bases-loaded punch obviously with a really good hitter up, you know, Blake was really good tonight.”

Speaking of really good hitters, the Dodgers catcher himself had an impressive – and very much needed – 2-for-4 night at the plate, driving in two of the Dodgers six runs and scoring two of them. One of those hits was a huge fourth-inning two-run double to left to give the Dodgers a then 3-0 lead. The popular 34-year-old Dodgers backstop and Fullerton, CA native also singled to right to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning and scored a much-needed insurance run on a sacrafice fly to left field by 29-year-old Dodgers center fielder Tommy Edman.

The uncomfortableness will continue for Dodger fans, as their team opens a crucial four-game series with the NL West second-place Arizona Diamondbacks beginning on Friday night at Chase Field. The Dodgers will begin play with a 4.0-game lead over the Snakes, sending 36-year-old future first-ballot Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw to the mound in search of the third win of his injury-plagued 2024 season opposite two losses.

Play Ball!

  *  *  *  *  *  *