June 23, 2019: Dodgers win third straight game with a walk-off home run by a rookie

Three rookies took turns hitting walk-off home runs in three straight games for the Dodgers in June 2019. No major-league trio had ever pulled off such an unlikely feat. Matt Beaty, Alex Verdugo, and Will Smith did it in a weekend series against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium. Each game attracted more than 50,000 fans.

The Dodgers, coming off their second straight World Series appearance, entered the series in first place with a record of 51-25. They led the National League West by 10 games over the second-place Colorado Rockies, who were 40-34.

Beaty was the first to send LA fans home happy. He hit a two-out, two-run homer off Jairo Diaz that led his team to a 4-2 victory on June 21, on the same night right-hander Walker Buehler struck out 16 batters and walked no one. The next day Verdugo hit a walk-off solo home run in the 11th inning off Jesus Tinoco that gave the Dodgers a 5-4 win. It was his fourth hit of the game. The next afternoon, Smith, who had just been recalled from the minors, hit a walk-off, three-run homer to beat the Rockies, 6-3. It was a monumental accomplishment for all three rookies.

Beaty was a 12th-round pick by the Dodgers out of Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.1 Beaty’s calling card at Belmont was his remarkable eye for the strike zone, as he walked more than he struck out in his junior year. However, this walk-off home run almost did not happen.

Three days earlier, on June 20, Beaty had been demoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City. An injury to pitcher Josh Sborz, though, kept Beaty in Los Angeles and allowed him to hit a 402-foot walk-off home run against the Rockies.

Alex Verdugo, a high-school draft pick from Arizona, was a pitcher and a fielder. Most teams had evaluated him as a pitcher, but the Dodgers liked him as a hitter. Verdugo rewarded the Dodgers by batting .329 in 91 games for Oklahoma City in 2018. He made LA’s Opening Day roster in 2019 after getting call-ups the two previous years and was batting .294 when the Colorado series began. Verdugo’s walk-off homer was his seventh round-tripper of the season.

The next game’s hero, Will Smith, was sitting in the Oklahoma City Dodgers’ clubhouse and watched Verdugo’s home run on television.2 Smith’s own shining moment was less than 24 hours away.

The Sunday afternoon game began on a scary note. In the first inning, a woman at Dodger Stadium was struck in the head by a foul line drive struck by Los Angeles star Cody Bellinger.3 She was sitting four rows from the field along the first-base line, just beyond the protective netting that extends to the end of the visiting dugout. Bellinger checked on her between innings. After first aid was administered, the woman was taken to a hospital for precautionary tests but was later released.

Smith was a supplemental first-round draft pick (32nd overall) from the University of Louisville in 2016, where he was known for stellar defense behind the plate. In the minors, Smith’s bat helped him advance through the farm system. He was promoted to Los Angeles from Oklahoma City on the day of the game. Smith, who had been called up earlier in the season for six games (going 6-for-21 with two home runs), caught a 6 A.M. flight to Los Angeles and gave the 50,023 at Dodger Stadium a chance to watch history.

Colorado took an early lead with a first-inning home run by right fielder David Dahl. Second baseman Ryan McMahon hit an RBI single in the third to give the Rockies a 2-0 lead.

Right-hander Antonio Senzatela held the Dodgers scoreless into the seventh inning, when pinch-hitter Chris Taylor greeted reliever Chad Bettis with a three-run homer to left field and gave the Dodgers a 3-2 lead. The Rockies tied the game in the top of the eighth on Tony Wolters’ RBI double to right field. In the Rockies’ ninth, Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen got Charlie Blackmon to fly out and struck out Raimel Tapia before giving up a single to center fielder Garrett Hampson. Hampson stole second base but was stranded when David Dahl struck out.

With Jansen due up as the fifth batter in the bottom of the ninth, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was prepared to send up a pinch-hitter.

Scott Oberg took over from Jake McGee and became the fourth pitcher of the game for the Rockies. The first Dodger he faced was Beaty, the hero from two nights earlier, who reached first base a throwing error by second baseman McMahon. Kiké Hernández fouled out to the first baseman. With Chris Taylor batting, Beaty took second on a wild pitch by Oberg, who then struck out Taylor. With first base open, Rockies manager Bud Black made the textbook move and had Oberg walk Russell Martin.

Smith batted for Jansen and hit a 1-and-0 pitch into the right-field seats, giving the Dodgers a walk-off victory in his seventh game played for the team. After his opposite-field home run, Smith told reporters, “We were saying that’s a record that’s probably never going to be broken.”4

Taylor said, “That was sick, I think we’re all still in shock. Three nights in a row, walk-off homers by three rookies. It’s special to be able to do that. I think it takes some serious nerve to calm yourself in those situations, and [Smith] has done it twice. Was it a walk-off? It’s pretty impressive.”5 Smith hit his first walk-off home run on June 1, 2019.

Dodgers manager Roberts said, “We talk about these young players not being afraid of the moment. For Will to get a pitch in and carry it to the opposite part of the field is impressive.”6

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retroheet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN201906230.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2019/B06230LAN2019.htm

Some highlights of the game may be seen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lyl5OCR7do

A compilation, “All the Los Angeles Dodgers Walk-Offs from 2019!” shows the other walk-offs, as well as the one on June 23: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC1yTHOyqdI.

Notes

1 David Schoenfield, “Real or Not? Even the Dodgers’ Rookies Are Out of This World,” ESPN.com, June 23, 2019. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27041089/real-not-even-dodgers-rookies-this-world.

2 Mike DiGiovanna, “Third Rookie Stars in L.A.’s Summer Rerun; Smith’s Blast Gives the Dodgers Three Straight Walk-Off Homers From a First-Year Player.” Los Angeles Times, June 24, 2019: D-1.

3 Associated Press, “Fan Taken to Hospital After Struck by Bellinger’s Foul,” SpectrumNews1, June 23, 2019. https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/toledo/ap-online/2019/06/23/fan-taken-to-hospital-after-struck-by-bellingers-foul.

4 Joe Reedy, “Dodgers Win on Walk-Off Home Run for 3rd Straight Game,” NBC Los Angeles, June 23, 2019. https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/sports/dodgers-rookie-will-smith-hits-walk-off-home-run/149048/.

5 DiGiovanna.

6 Reedy.