LOS ANGELES_Yasmani Grandal is not a small man. He is not a swift man, either, which added to the intrigue as he lumbered toward home plate in the sixth inning of a 6-2 Dodgers victory over Atlanta.
Grandal had led off the inning with a walk. He landed at third base after Joc Pederson hit into a double play. He represented the go-ahead run when Yasiel Puig squibbed a grounder down the third base line and Braves starter Julio Teheran pounced on the baseball.
Teheran did not have enough time to nab Puig at first. So he shuttled the baseball home to catcher Tyler Flowers. The ball arrived moments before Grandal did. Grandal tucked his elbow into his chest as he slid. Flowers slapped a tag _ then watched as the baseball squirted loose toward the backstop.
It was an unconventional way to score a game-deciding run, but the Dodgers (67-31) would not complain. The victory ended a two-game losing streak, the team's longest stretch of futility since the first week of June.
The lead increased an inning later, from a player who had spent the first six innings on the bench. Chris Taylor became the third Dodger to take Teheran deep when he opened the seventh with a home run. Taylor added to the advantage in the eight. He slashed a two-out, two-run triple. He supplied half of his team's scoring in two at-bats.
The lineup had produced two early runs on a pair of solo homers by Corey Seager and Chase Utley. Rich Hill allowed the Braves to tie the game in the fifth, but stuck around to log 61/3 innings. It was his fifth reassuring start in a row.
Hill rescued his season near the end of June. He had been adrift for most of the first half. His blisters resurfaced in April and caused two trips to the disabled list. Upon his return in mid-May, he failed to deliver his fastball and curveball to the strike zone with regularity.
A tip from President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman, who provided Hill with information showing his performance while in the wind-up versus the stretch, aided Hill's resurgence. Hill saw he threw much better when runners were on base than when the bases were empty. Inspired by the data, Hill modified his delivery to cut down on his wind-up, even when there were no men aboard.
The difference was stark. In his first eight starts, Hill posted a 5.14 earned-run average and never pitched into the sixth inning. In his next five outings, Hill produced a 1.74 ERA and completed the seventh inning three times.
"The feel is night and day, compared to what it was," manager Dave Roberts said. "The feel, the ball coming out of his hand, the feel with his delivery _ and now that breeds confidence. When he steps on the mound, when he needs to throw a strike with the fastball or the breaking ball, he feels very confident. That's what makes him elite."
Hill looked sharp as Saturday began. He struck out the side in the first inning. He yielded a pair of singles in the second, but recovered to strike out two more in a scoreless frame. In between, the offense provided him a one-run lead.
Seager had supplied only one hit in the first two nights of this series. He delivered his second with one out in the first. Teheran challenged him with a full-count fastball at the waist. Seager answered with a towering drive to right-center field. The ball landed deep in the pavilion.
Hill trekked through trouble in the third. The jam occurred with two outs. Atlanta second baseman Johan Camargo roped a curveball into the left-field corner for a double. Hill missed with four consecutive fastballs to walk first baseman Freddie Freeman. To the plate came Matt Kemp, the former Dodgers All-Star.
Kemp, 32, looks a tad puffier than he did during his days as a Dodger. But he is still a dangerous hitter. Hill disarmed him with a fastball spotted on the outside edge of the plate. Kemp rolled it to Seager for a force play at second base.
The Dodgers doubled their lead in the bottom of the inning. Teheran ran a 92-mph fastball inside to Utley. Utley turned on the pitch and deposited it inside the Atlanta bullpen in right field. It was his sixth homer of the season.
Through four innings, Hill struck out eight. He had thrown 69 pitches when the fifth began. His 73rd pitch proved problematic. It was a curveball that spun across the plate and into the legs of Teheran. The mistake gave Atlanta a free baserunner. Two batters later, Camargo doubled again. Freeman drove Teheran in with a grounder.
Once again, Kemp came to the plate with a runner in scoring position. He did not wait to attack. Hill flung a curveball. Kemp roped it into left for a game-tying single.
