LOS ANGELES _ There was no earthquake like the 7.1-magnitute temblor that rattled Dodger Stadium on July 5, no strange atmospheric conditions or precipitation that would affect pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu's grip or footing on the mound.
Still, something about the Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander seemed askew Friday night. A control freak who had not walked two in an inning this season, Ryu walked two Miami batters in the second. He walked Miguel Rojas to lead off the third, matching his season-high for walks in a game.
Ryu, who walked 11 batters in 116 innings of his first 18 starts, giving him a major league-best 0.85 walks-per-nine-innings rate, also hit a batter in the fourth, only the second time this season he has plunked a hitter.
Not to worry. The worst team in the National League was unable to capitalize on a rare "off night" for Ryu, who allowed one run through four innings of a 2-1 victory over the Marlins before a sellout crowd of 52,471 in Dodger Stadium.
Ryu found his bearings after the fourth and retired 11 of the last batters he faced, striking out the side in the seventh, to improve to 11-2 and lower his major league-leading ERA to 1.76.
Kenta Maeda, in a pre-planned relief appearance after his rain-abbreviated two-inning start in Philadelphia on Wednesday, struck out two in a one-two-three eighth, and closer Kenley Jansen struck out the side in the ninth for his 24th save.
Ryu sandwiched a pair of two-out walks around Jorge Alforo's single in the second and escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam by getting pitcher Zac Gallen to ground to the mound. After Rojas walked to open the third, Curtis Granderson lined into a double play.
Miami took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Harold Ramirez reached on an infield single, beating Ryu to the bag on a grounder to the right of first baseman Joc Pederson, and Alforo roped an RBI double to the wall in left field.
Gallen, the bespectacled rookie right-hander, blanked the Dodgers on two hits through five innings, escaping a two-on, no-outs jam in the second, but got into trouble in the sixth when Alex Verdugo singled and Justin Turner walked.
Gallen struck out Cody Bellinger with an up-and-in 90-mph fastball _ the same pitch he whiffed the most valuable player candidate with in the fourth _ but he walked A.J. Pollock to load the bases.
Miami manager Don Mattingly summoned left-hander Jarlin Garcia to face Corey Seager, who beat out a slow roller to second for a run-scoring fielder's-choice and a 1-1 tie.
Marlins second baseman Starlin Castro then booted Enrique Hernandez's potential inning-ending grounder for an error that allowed Turner to score for a 2-1 Dodgers lead.
Friday night's game started under clear skies with a temperature of 72 degrees, a welcome respite for the Dodgers after a seven-game trip to Boston and Philadelphia that featured oppressive heat and humidity, three lengthy rain delays, two flight delays and two games that ended well after midnight.
"We got off the plane (Thursday night) and the first thing everyone said was, 'Yes!' We missed this," pitcher Ross Stripling said. "You forget what it feels like trying to grip a baseball with 100% humidity and it's raining and you can't throw a curveball more than 40 feet. You definitely think how lucky we are to play here."
Stormy weather forced cancellation of on-field batting practice before several games and threw players off their normal routines. Rain delays disrupted the timing and rhythm of hitters.
"You realize how fortunate we are to play in Southern California," infielder Max Muncy said. "You talk to those guys on East Coast teams, and they say it rains every other day, for 30 minutes here or there.
"We know we're gonna show up every day and play at 7 p.m. or whenever the game starts and, barring an earthquake, nothing is gonna throw us off schedule. Heck, we even played right through the earthquake."
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts canceled batting practice on Friday, but not because of the weather. Storms delayed the team's flight home from Philadelphia, which landed in Los Angeles at around 10 p.m. The Dodgers waited out the delay in Citizens Bank Park, spending three hours in the visiting clubhouse after the game.
"Some guys played cards, some guys hung out with their families, and just about everyone ate at least one cheesesteak," Stripling said. "You can talk to Alexa and ask her to play trivia games. Everyone was kind of doing different stuff, wasting time."
