Kyle Tucker’s walk-off hit caps Dodgers’ 9th-inning rally to beat Marlins

LOS ANGELES — Kyle Tucker had nothing to base it on. He’d never had a walk-off hit at Dodger Stadium before – and wasn’t completely sure he had one this time.

“I mean, I hit it. I started going to first and I was like – it wasn’t quite loud yet until we actually ended up winning the game there and Sho scored,” Tucker said after his two-run single capped a ninth-inning comeback and lifted the Dodgers to a 5-4 victory over the Miami Marlins on Monday night.

“So I was like, ‘Did I get the score wrong?’ But afterwards, I saw everyone running out and it got loud and everything so I was like, ‘OK, sweet, this is sick.’”

In the midst of a slow start measured against the four-year, $240 million contract he signed over the winter, there have been few moments to test Tucker’s capacity for joy, making his unemotional personality even more exposed. So much so, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had a telling question about Tucker’s post-game time with the media.

“Did he smile?” Roberts joked.

“It was great. He needed it. He needed a win. And he’s been grinding and trying to find some success and some good fortune. Big spot right there, walk off at home. So that was great. To see everybody go out and greet him and celebrate him was fun.”

There was little fun for the Dodgers through the first eight innings.

They scored two runs in the first inning on a two-out single by Teoscar Hernandez then managed just three more singles over the next seven innings. And starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto was not himself.

He walked the leadoff hitter to start the game but got a double play to erase that. In the third inning, he gave up a two-out single to the No. 9 hitter, Connor Norby, and a double to Jakob Marsee, stranding both when he got Kyle Stowers to fly out.

In the fourth, things got even more complicated. He gave up a leadoff double to Otto Lopez then walked Xavier Edwards. After a strikeout, Agustin Ramirez singled to load the bases with one out.

A pitch-clock violation on Owen Caissie got Yamamoto a strikeout and he was nearly out of the inning when Javier Sanoja bounced a ground ball into the hole at shortstop. Hyeseong Kim fielded it but it popped out of his glove. By the time he gathered the ball back in and threw to first base, Sanoja was safe and a run had scored.

Yamamoto walked two more in the fifth inning for a season-high four in just five innings. When a 1-and-2 splitter stayed up over the plate, Liam Hicks hooked it into the seats down the right-field line for a three-run home run.

“I think today, I had both sides, bad and good,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter. “Sometimes, I was able to control my pitches. On the other hand, I was not able to finish them off in the way I wanted.”

Yamamoto was finished after that fifth inning, his shortest start of the season and shortest regular-season start since last Aug. 11. The four walks and four runs allowed were his most since that same start against the Angels (five walks in 4⅔ innings).

“I just don’t think he was sharp tonight,” Roberts said. “Even in San Francisco (his previous start), that first inning (when he gave up three runs), and then he sort of beared down and made pitches when he needed to. But tonight, I think even from the outset, I don’t think that he was as sharp as we’ve seen for many starts. It’s going to happen.”

Trailing 4-2, the Dodgers went into the bottom of the ninth with little offensive life. Marlins closer Pete Fairbanks gave them some before leaving with a thumb injury.

Fairbanks walked Andy Pages and Dalton Rushing to start the ninth. After Miguel Rojas popped up a bunt, Shohei Ohtani lashed his third hit of the night, a ground-rule double into the seats down the right-field line.

The tying runs would have scored if the ball stayed in play. Instead, one scored and Dalton Rushing was held at third. After Freeman was intentionally walked to load the bases, Fairbanks was removed from the game. Will Smith struck out against Tyler Phillips and Tucker got to play the hero, sending a two-run walk-off single through the middle of the infield.

“The guys in front of me did a phenomenal job, drawing the walks, and Sho with the huge double there to pull us within one,” Tucker said. “Guys had phenomenal at-bats right there at the end. Just having the opportunity is huge. Any time we have a chance to win, we try to take advantage of it, so, it was a huge inning for us.”

The quality of Tucker’s at-bats seem to have improved since he was dropped in the lineup, from second to fourth (and fifth for one game), five games ago. Though he is just 5 for 20 in those games, three of the hits have been doubles and “I’ve had some good contact – not with a whole lot to show for it.”

“Last series, they just made a couple of nice plays … hit the ball decently well, just didn’t get knocks on it. That happens sometimes,” Tucker said. “Had a couple barrels tonight.

“It’s tough sometimes, just because you don’t see the results right away or anything. But you just kinda stick to it and try to get as much quality contact as you can and wait for them to drop.”

Roberts agreed the “the quality of contact has been a lot better” recently and offered that hitting lower in the order has “been a benefit” as Tucker tries to settle in with a new team.

“I think this is the floor of what he’s going to be doing this year, and I think the needle is pointing up,” Roberts said.