Mookie Betts singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth, took second on a hit batter, tore around third base on Max Muncy’s two-out single to right and slid head-first into the plate to give the Dodgers a dramatic 3-2 walk-off victory over the Detroit Tigers before a crowd of 42,223 in Chavez Ravine on Tuesday night.
J.D. Martinez hit a solo home run to center in the fourth inning, his third homer in two games, and singled to spark a two-out rally in the eighth, pinch-runner Chris Taylor stealing second base on his own and scoring for a 2-2 tie when David Peralta sliced a ground-rule RBI double down the left-field line.
Rookie right-hander Ryan Pepiot replaced opener Caleb Ferguson to start the second inning and continued his push for a more prominent playoff role, escaping a first-and-third, no-out jam in the seventh to complete a gutsy six-inning, one-run, five-hit, four-strikeout, one-walk effort.
But the night will forever belong to Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol, the Venezuelan right-hander who pitched in front of his mother, Ysmalia, for the first time as a big-leaguer, retiring the side in order in the eighth, pointing to his mom in the family section and breaking down in tears as he hugged teammates in the dugout.
“A lot of emotion, so much emotion that I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know how to control it,” Graterol said in Spanish. “I only cry out of happiness. My mom and I, we grew up together [in Calabozo, Venezuela]. She was a mother and father at the same time. I’ve dedicated each second, each minute, to her so she feels proud of me.”
It had been seven years since Graterol, nicknamed “Bazooka,” had seen Ysmalia, a stretch that included Brusdar’s major league debut with the Minnesota Twins in 2019, his World Series championship with the Dodgers in 2020, his marriage to Allison in 2021 and the birth of their daughter, Aria, last spring.
Graterol, 25, had been trying for years to bring his mother to the U.S. Ysmalia finally got the required documentation two weeks ago to fly from Venezuela to Los Angeles, where Brusdar met her at the airport on Sunday.
“It was a moment that left me paralyzed,” Graterol said of the reunion. “I didn’t know what to say. All I heard my mom say was that I was very big and beautiful. And the only thing that I told her when I calmed down was that she smelled like home.”
As Graterol took the mound to start the eighth with the Dodgers trailing 2-1, his mind flooded with childhood memories of how his mother, a former softball player, encouraged him to play different sports, and how she often monitored his workouts.
He was able to calm his nerves enough to get Zach McKinstry and Spencer Torkelson, who hit a solo homer off Ferguson in the first inning, to fly out to left and Jake Rogers to ground out to extend his scoreless innings streak to 21 innings.
But as he hugged manager Dave Roberts in front of the dugout and pointed to Ysmalia, whose wave was captured on the stadium video boards, and his wife and daughter, Graterol was overcome with emotion.
“An incredible moment,” said Graterol, who is 4-2 with a 1.28 ERA and seven saves in 64 games this season. “There were a lot of moments that she missed. When I debuted, she wasn’t here. When I got married, she wasn’t here. When my wife had our daughter, she wasn’t here. Those were difficult times. Thank God, we did it and she’s here.”
Graterol’s teammates — especially fellow Venezuelans Miguel Rojas, Martinez and Peralta — and Roberts were wrapped up in the moment as much as Graterol.
“You sort of get into the game mode, but how can you not appreciate that emotional moment for Brusdar, his mom, his family?” Roberts said. “They haven’t seen each other for seven years, and a lot has happened in seven years. I don’t know how they managed it. … It was really special, one of the top [moments] I’ve ever been a part of.”
Venezuela is known for its political turmoil, socio-economic instability, poverty, hyperinflation, high crime and high mortality rates. The country broke off diplomatic relations with the U.S. in 2019, making it more difficult for citizens to emigrate or travel to the U.S.
“Knowing all she went through to get here to see him, especially seeing him for the first time playing, it’s a lot of emotion,” Peralta said. “I got a little emotional, too, because, fortunately, I have my mom here in the U.S., but my older sister is in Venezuela, she can’t come, and I wish that could happen.
“You guys have to understand what Latin players, especially Venezuelans, have to go through. It’s not easy for us to bring our family. So to finally get the chance to do it, it’s a moment that you’ll never forget.”
Added Martinez: “There’s a lot of stuff around the world that guys don’t have any control of. For that dream of his to come true–I think every parent should be able to see their son at this level. For them to see, I know it’s got to be emotional for them.”
Graterol said the last time Ysmalia saw him play organized baseball was in the Dominican Republic in 2015. Now, Ysmalia will watch her son pitch for the National League West-champion Dodgers over the final two weeks of the regular season and in the playoffs starting in October.
“The goal is to have her celebrate the World Series with us,” Graterol said, “and when she wants to go back, she’ll go back.”
Rib rattler
Smith acknowledged in a radio interview over the weekend that he suffered a broken rib when he was hit by a pitch from St. Louis’ Jake Woodford in an April 30 game, an injury that took months to recover from and still might be impacting the catcher at the plate.
Smith made his first All-Star team by hitting .279 with an .889 OPS, 13 homers and 46 RBIs in 66 first-half games, but he entered Tuesday with a .244 average, .697 OPS, five homers and 26 RBIs in 52 games since the break, including a .184 average, .614 OPS, one homer and six RBIs in 13 September games.
“Yeah, it hasn’t been great the last couple of months,” Roberts said. “Our guys looked at where he got hit in the ribs and just kind of cleaned up the mechanics. He went a little sideways, and that led to a lot of missed pitches in the hitting zone.
“The pain wasn’t [the problem]. I think it was more of, there was probably a little bit of guarding initially, and then when you’re talking about the rib, the oblique, that sort of dovetails into some changed mechanics.”
Rehab report
Reliever Daniel Hudson, who suffered a right-knee sprain July 5, threw to batters in a simulated inning Tuesday afternoon, but the chances of the veteran right-hander pitching again this season remain slim.
“It was encouraging to see him get some hitters, and I think we’ll revisit this in another four or five days,” Roberts said. “Our expectation is to play through October, so if we can continue to build him up … you know, it’s a long shot, so I think the most important thing is to continue to pass the certain markers.”
