The pitch that decided Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium was one Bryan Woo would like back.
With runners on and two outs in the fourth, Seattle's starter left a pitch over the middle of the plate and Dalton Rushing hit it out for a three-run home run. That was the game. The Dodgers beat the Mariners 6-2.
How it was won
Rushing's homer did the structural work. Teoscar Hernández added a solo shot later, and between them the two swings accounted for most of the Los Angeles offense on a night when the Dodgers did not need much more than that.
Roki Sasaki gave them five and a third innings with seven strikeouts, which is covered in more detail in our separate piece on his outing. Woo struck out eight and still took the loss, which is the sort of line that describes a pitcher who was fine for most of the evening and wrong once.
Seattle's night
The Mariners scored twice and both runs came in the same sequence. Cole Young reached and came around on a Randy Arozarena double in the sixth. That was the extent of it.
Seattle has now played 56 games on the road this season and won 23 of them. A 23-33 road record is the kind of number that explains a lot about a season without requiring any further analysis: this is a team that has been fine at home and has not been able to take that with it.
Where the Dodgers stand
Los Angeles finished the night holding the best record in baseball, a game clear of Milwaukee. That is the relevant framing at the end of July, because the margin determines home field in October, and the Dodgers have spent the summer building toward a postseason where they expect to need it.
The rest of the schedule will settle whether that one-game cushion is a formality or something they have to defend.
