LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Dodgers cleanup batter Will Smith hit an eighth-inning grounder to the left of Miami third baseman Jon Berti with runners on first and third and one out in a tie game Friday night.
Berti didn’t think he had time to throw to second to start a potential double play, so he turned and looked toward the plate, where … nobody was home. Literally.
Marlins catcher Jacob Stallings, thinking the play would be on the infield, had vacated the premises. He was straddling the dirt circle on the first base side of the plate when Mookie Betts, who led off the inning with a triple, waltzed home with the winning run in a 2-1 victory before 50,431 in Dodger Stadium.
Setup man Evan Phillips then retired the side in order in the top of the ninth with the help of a spectacular catch by center fielder Trayce Thompson to record the save in place of closer Craig Kimbrel, who had pitched in three of the previous five games.
Nick Fortes led off the ninth with a drive to deep center, Thompson leaping to the top of the wall for a catch that robbed the Miami designated hitter of extra bases, if not a home run, to help the Dodgers improve their major league-best record to 82-36 and win for the 37th time in 45 games.
Thompson also drove in the tying run with a double in the bottom of the seventh to take starter Tyler Anderson, who gave up one run and five hits in seven strong innings, off the hook for a potential loss.
Anderson had blanked the Marlins on three hits through six innings, escaping a two-on, one-out jam in the third and a two-on, two-out jam in the sixth, before giving up a leadoff double to Stallings in the seventh, a drive to the right-center-field gap that was just beyond the reach of Betts.
Anderson left an 80-mph changeup down the middle to Charles Leblanc, but the Miami second baseman missed the fat pitch, popping out to first base. Anderson struck out Peyton Burdick with a 91-mph fastball and got two quick strikes on Encarnacion, a rookie who was recalled from triple-A Jacksonville earlier Friday.
Anderson tried to bury an 80-mph changeup in the dirt, but the pitch hovered near the knees of Encarnacion, who drove his double to left-center to score Stallings for a 1-0 Marlins lead.
It was short-lived. Justin Turner led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to center off Miami starter Jesus Luzardo. Chris Taylor struck out, and Marlins manager Don Mattingly pulled Luzardo in favor of left-hander Steven Okert, who struck out Hanser Alberto for the second out.
But Thompson lined a double just inside the left-field line and into the corner. Miami appeared to have a good shot at Turner, who was waved home by third base coach Dino Ebel, but Encarnacion overthrew cutoff man Miguel Rojas, and Turner scored without a play for a 1-1 tie.
The Dodgers were on the fifth day of a curious 15-day stretch of the schedule in which they will play the Marlins and Milwaukee Brewers 14 times.
“It’s certainly unique in a sense that over these two weeks we see these ballclubs so much,” Roberts said. “Obviously each game, each interaction, we’re gathering information, so it sort of levels the playing field when you see teams a lot.
“As it stands, we don’t know the Marlins very well. We know they always pitch well. We’re going to see some good arms here this weekend. I think all of these games will be pretty close.”
The Dodgers will see the best of those arms on Sunday when NL Cy Young Award favorite Sandy Alcantara, who is 11-5 with a 1.92 ERA in 24 starts, pitches in the series finale.
They saw a pretty good one Friday night in Luzardo, who, in his fourth start back after missing 21/2 months because of a forearm strain, gave up one run and four hits in 61/3 innings, striking out seven and walking two.
Betts smacked Luzardo’s first pitch of the game, a 95.5-mph fastball, off the base of the wall in left-center field but was stranded when Miami right fielder Brian Anderson raced made a sliding catch of Trea Turner’s flare, Freddie Freeman struck out swinging on an 89-mph changeup and Smith flied to right.
The Dodgers threatened again in the third when Gavin Lux lined a one-out single to center and Betts rolled a single to left. But Trea Turner swung over an 89-mph changeup for strike three and Freeman bounced back to the mound to end the inning.
—Clayton Kershaw update
Clayton Kershaw threw off a bullpen mound Friday for the first time since going on the 15-day injured list because of lower-back pain Aug. 5, completing a 30-pitch workout that, barring setback, put the veteran left-hander on track for an early September return.
Roberts said Kershaw, who received an epidural injection Aug. 5, will probably throw another bullpen session next week, to be followed by a simulated game of three or four innings in late August “and then potentially an activation.”
