September 15, 2009: Andre Ethier hits record fourth walk-off home run of the season

“Fastball … High drive into deep right! Back goes Jones! Is gone!” – Vin Scully1

When Charles Dickens wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness …” to begin his classic book A Tale of Two Cities, he could have been referring to the Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers in 2009, which was 150 years after Dickens’ masterpiece hit the bookshelves in bookstores and libraries.

Coming into the September 15, 2009, game, the Pirates were not only going through a tough stretch, having lost 15 of their last 17 games, they could have written a “how-to” guide” book on the subject. Since 2004 Pittsburgh had finished either last or fifth in the six-team National League Central Division. In 2009 they were in line to land in the cellar for the third straight season.

Los Angeles was shooting for its second straight NL West Division title and fourth postseason appearance since 2004. With 17 games left to play, the Dodgers held a four-game lead over the Colorado Rockies.

The 2009 season was winding down as Pittsburgh arrived in Los Angeles for a three-game set beginning on September 14. The Pirates (55-86) lost the opener to LA (85-59), 6-2. Dodgers starter Jon Garland pitched six strong innings while the bullpen threw shutout baseball for the final three frames. The Dodgers’ hitting attack was led by Andre Ethier and Orlando Hudson. Each drove in two runs, with Either hitting his 29th home run of the season.

The pitching matchup for the second game of the series featured a pair of southpaws. Pittsburgh’s Zach Duke (10-14, 4.02 ERA) opposed the Dodgers’ Randy Wolf (10-6, 3.22). Like the teams they played for, the starting pitchers were having different levels of success in 2009. Duke had losing streaks of three and four games. He was named to the NL All-Star squad in 2009, although he did not appear in the game. He was tied with Cincinnati’s Aaron Harang for the most losses in the NL.

Wolf began the season 5-6 before enjoying a four-game win streak from August 11 to 26 that upped his record to 9-6. Wolf was the workhorse of the LA staff, which would have three pitchers start 30 or more games: Wolf, Chad Billingsley, and Clayton Kershaw.

Pittsburgh scored first, three runs in the top of the second inning. With one down, Lastings Milledge walked. Steve Pearce, who was batting .225, lined his fourth home run of the season to left field to give the Pirates a 2-0 advantage. Ronny Cedeño followed with a double to center field and moved to third base on a groundout off the bat of Luis Cruz. Pitcher Duke singled him home to give Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead.

The lead was remarkable in that it provided Duke something he had lacking all year: “[T]he Pirates offense failed to score as many as three runs in 16 of his 28 previous starts.”2

The score held until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Matt Kemp led off with a double to left field. He came home on a triple by Casey Blake. Mark Lorretta then lifted a fly ball to deep left field to bring home Blake. The Pirates’ lead was sliced to 3-2.

Both starting pitchers were effective. Duke, in addition to collecting an RBI, pitched 7⅓ strong innings. He gave up two runs on four hits and struck out seven batters with no walks. Wolf hurled seven innings, surrendering three earned runs on five hits. He struck out five and walked two Pirates batters.

The question was whether Pittsburgh’s relief corps could hold the one-run lead. The answer was no. Matt Capps, the Pirates’ closer, entered the game in the bottom of the ninth with 25 saves. But he could not shut the door on LA. The Dodgers scored a run to knot the score, 3-3. With one away, Ethier doubled to right and scored on Kemp’s single. It was the fifth blown save of the season for Capps, and the third in his past eight attempts.

The 52,562 spectators were cheering loudly. The Rockies were nipping at the Dodgers’ heels. The crowd knew every win counted, especially against a team like the Pirates that was struggling so much.

The game moved into extra innings. Both managers, LA’s Joe Torre and Pittsburgh’s John Russell, strategized through their bullpens to secure a victory.

Los Angeles received a big boost from James McDonald. The right-handed hurler threw three scoreless innings. The Pirates’ Joel Hanrahan pitched two innings of no-hit relief.

However, both pitchers had exited from the game when the 13th inning began. Ronald Belisario entered the game for the Dodgers after McDonald was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 12th. Leadoff hitter Andrew McCutchen reached base on a throwing error by LA third baseman Blake. Andy LaRoche sacrificed McCutchen to second base. The Dodgers intentionally walked Garrett Jones to face catcher Ryan Doumit. The strategy backfired and Doumit, who struck out three times in the game, laced a single to left field to bring home McCutchen with the unearned, go-ahead run.

Russell brought Chris Bootcheck into the game in the bottom of the inning. The righty was sporting a whopping 11.57 ERA as he made his way to the center of the diamond. Leadoff batter Rafael Furcal reached first base on an infield single, a liner that Bootchck couldn’t handle. Russell Martin flied out and John Russell went to his bullpen again. He summoned Phil Dumatrait to the mound. The maneuver set up a lefty-lefty matchup with Dumatrait facing Ethier.

But the plan did not work: Ethier smashed his 30th home run into the right-field pavilion at Dodger Stadium, his major-league-leading sixth walk-off hit of the season, four of them home runs. It was the 37th time this year that the Dodgers grabbed a come-from-behind win.3

“As Yogi would say, ‘It’s déjà vu all over again’” said Torre, quoting Yankees great Yogi Berra. “You’ve seen him do it, you want to visualize it, and when he does it, it’s just surreal.”4

“You pinch yourself,” said Ethier. “If there’s a heartbeat left, we can come by and try to win it. I was just looking for a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on something.”5

Dumatrait had thrown just one pitch, but it made all the difference. “I wanted to get ahead of him,” he said. “I threw a two-seam (fastball) in. It was just above the knees on the black, maybe even in a little bit. All the scouting reports said you can get him in. I made my pitch. But he beat me.”6

“I went and looked at the video and it was just above the knees and a little bit off the plate,” said Dumatrait. “I made my pitch and he just kind of dropped the head of the bat on it and put a good swing on it, and unfortunately it went out of the park. It’s frustrating. He just beat me on that one pitch.”7

Belisario, despite giving up the go-ahead run, was the beneficiary of Ethier’s blast. He improved his record to 4-3. Dumatrait (0-1) took the loss.

The Dodgers (95-67) won the NL West Division by three games over Colorado. They swept St. Louis in three games in the NLDS. However, they were ousted in five games against Philadelphia in the NLCS.

Pittsburgh (62-99) finished in last place in the Central Division and would suffer the same fate in 2010.

Sources

In addition to the Sources cited in the Notes, the author used the Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org websites.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN200909150.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2009/B09150LAN2009.htm

Notes

1 Emma Amaya, “Mr. Miracle, Andre Ethier: The King of Walk-Offs,” Dodger Blue World, September 16, 2009, https://mlblogscrzblue.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/mr-miracle-andre-ethier-the-king-of-walk-offs/, accessed March 27, 2024.

2 Chuck Finder, “Another Duke Gem Wasted,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 16, 2009: D1, D5.

3 Jim Peltz, “Ethier Shows He’s Still King of Walk-Off,” Los Angeles Times, September 16, 2009: C1.

4 Associated Press, “Ethier’s League-Leading Sixth Walk-Off Lifts Dodgers,” September 16, 2009.

5 “Ethier’s League-Leading Sixth Walk-Off Lifts Dodgers.”

6 Rob Biertempfel, “Dodgers Drop Pirates in 13 Innings with Walk-Off Homer,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, September 16, 2009.

7 “Ethier’s League-Leading Sixth Walk-Off Lifts Dodgers.