Pollock’s do-over works just fine
Dodgers slugger sees a phantom ball four then returns to the plate to hit decisive three-run homer.
AJ Pollock was already a few steps down the first base line before hearing a human voice amid the clamor of a fake crowd.
With two on and two outs in the seventh inning Sunday, the Dodgers’ designated hitter believed he had drawn ball four against San Francisco Giants reliever Tyler Rogers, certain the sidearm righthander had missed low with a fastball to walk the bases loaded.
But when Pollock turned around, plate umpire Adam Hamari was flashing two fingers on his outstretched right hand. Pollock was partially in disbelief, but mainly just disoriented.
“I wasn’t really arguing as much,” Pollock said. “It was more, it was just so loud.”
The artificial roar blaring from the Dodger Stadium speakers had kept Pollock from hearing the call. When he realized the pitch was ruled a strike, he could barely make out Hamari’s explanation through the umpire’s mouth-covering face mask.
“It was a weird situation,” Pollock said. “But it worked out really well.”
Indeed it did. With the Dodgers trailing by two, Pollock returned to the batter’s box and belted the next pitch, sending a hanging fullcount curveball to left for a threerun home run to put the Dodgers ahead in their eventual 6-2 win.
“I thought it was down, but I looked back at the film and Adam had it right,” manager Dave Roberts said of the call that preceded Pollock’s blast. “It was kind of at that bottom-bottom part of the zone. I’m glad he called it a strike.”
In non-pandemic circumstances, a real crowd might not have been so frenzied for Pollock’s at-bat. Through the first six innings, the Dodgers’ offense was kept in check by Giants starter Kevin Gausman, who flashed increased velocity (his usually mid-90s-mph fastball peaked Sunday at 99.3) and sharp command to retire 18 of the first 20 batters.
But after Cody Bellinger singled with one out in the seventh, Giants manager Gabe Kapler turned to his bullpen, pulling Gausman after just 80 pitches and three hits yielded. The decision backfired three batters later, as Pollock launched his fourth home run of the year onto one of the blue tarp advertisements covering the soulless sections of the left-field bleachers.
“The impact he’s made with our guys on and off the field has been great,” Roberts said of Pollock, the only Dodger with an on-base-plusslugging percentage above 1.000. “This year, it’s just really good to see him get out of the gates quickly.”
As Pollock pumped a fist and rounded the bases, actual cheering from the Dodgers’ dugout accompanied the piped-in pandemonium. Afterward, the 32-year-old veteran could only laugh at the scene.
“Yesterday, [the crowd noise] was a little mellow, then today the fans were going nuts,” he said. “I couldn’t hear the umpire from 10 feet away from me, it was so loud.
I don’t know if it’s just different times throughout the game. It’s not bad. It’s just weird.”
Other parts of Sunday’s game felt more familiar. Dodgers starter Walker Buehler overcame shaky command (four walks and one hit batter) to complete his best start of the season, giving up two runs and one hit over 52⁄3 innings with six strikeouts. The Dodgers’ bullpen proved dependable again, blanking the Giants over the final three innings.
And the lineup added insurance on Mookie Betts’ eighth-inning three-run home run, maintaining its league lead in scoring despite missing shortstop Corey Seager (back discomfort) for a second straight game and suffering from more early-inning inconsistency at the plate.
“As a group, we come together,” Pollock said of an offense that is tied for the most home runs in the majors yet began the day 14th in batting average. “You look around and you know the types of hitters we’ve got on this team. We can do some damage, and I think it’s cool knowing we were able to put up a bunch of runs early in the year like this and not feel like we’ve hit our stride.”