Miguel Rojas homer propels Dodgers to

Miguel Rojas had practiced his dance strikes in the Dodgers’ dugout Monday, long before he hit the go-ahead home run. Before the sport, he strutted around, at one level even grabbing Dalton Rushing, decked in full catcher’s gear, to get hyped.

Rojas, who pinch-hit for Alex Freeland in the underside of the seventh and homered to left, was more measured as he crossed the plate without any antics. His veteran steadiness never indicated that he‘d hit a pinch-hit home run only one other time in his profession.

“It feels pretty good,” Rojas said. “It’s always a new day, a new opportunity that you contribute to win a baseball game. It’s pretty special, especially with this group that we have right here and the kind of season that we’re having.”

The Dodgers’ 4-3 win over Tampa Bay rid them of their middling highway efficiency. The group cut up a six-game journey, capped by a Sunday loss to the Chicago White Sox, before returning home.

No one discovered more quick success than Kyle Tucker, who briefly put his .227 batting average on the journey in the rearview mirror. For how long stays a query. Tucker’s season so far has appeared more like a teenager testing out their driver’s license: stopping and beginning and stopping again. Yet every part appeared to be working when the Dodgers (46-27) beat the Rays (41-28).

“I would love to come back and do it again and make it consistent every single day,” Tucker said. “I guess, if it works out for one at-bat, it’s not like I immediately figured it out and everything is fine now. The important thing is, just try to do it every single at-bat. And, over the course of time — It felt good and everything. I’ve just got to try to do it again tomorrow.”

Of the 5 Dodgers who’ve performed at least 60 video games, Tucker has the bottom batting average (.239). Still, he battled in an eight-pitch duel in the second inning before taking a changeup 384 toes over the wall in right-center.

“It was nice,” Tucker said. “Mookie [Betts] did a good job getting that double in front of us, and [Max] Muncy was able to leg that single out. I just had an opportunity, and sitting on the ball right there was huge. Nice swing.”

His home run tied the rating at three apiece, and Tucker wasn’t completed.

The next inning, the Rays’ Ben Williamson hit a two-out single to Tucker in proper discipline, and Tampa’s Jonathan Aranda darted around third toward home. Tucker lasered a ball to Rushing, who tagged Aranda out on the slide.

“We play so many games that it can get frustrating,” Tucker said of the season’s ups and downs. “You’ve just gotta try to move on to the next batter or the next game and do your best with that. That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”

Miguel Rojas acknowledges the bullpen after homering in the seventh inning.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

The defensive play helped buoy an in any other case precarious start by pitcher Eric Lauer. The left-hander had been undefeated in three begins with the Dodgers, a large departure from the 1-5 file he had with the Toronto Blue Jays. After beginning his yr with a 6.69 ERA, Lauer had recorded a 2.76 mark with the Dodgers.

But inconsistencies plagued Lauer’s start, ranging from the three earned runs he gave up in the first two innings to a pitch clock violation in the fourth. While Lauer ultimately settled, the command of his fastball remained absent. He usually crosses the strike zone with 53.7% accuracy on his fastball, getting batters to chase about 37% of the time. In the collection opener, Lauer threw his four-seamer in the zone only 42% of the time, cutting his chase price to 23%.

In other phrases, the best pitch in Lauer’s arsenal turned one of his worst, and the Rays took benefit. Junior Caminero doubled in the first inning, and Ryan Vilade adopted with a home run on a cutter, silencing a sold-out Dodger Stadium before the sport might even heat up. The Rays tacked on another run on a security squeeze, taking the lead until Tucker’s home run. Lauer completed after six innings, giving up the three earned runs, six hits and three walks, hanging out 4.

“The toughest inning for starters is that first inning, to get the flow of the game and to get the feel of what’s working, what’s not,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts said. “My challenge [to Lauer] was to have that reliever mindset from the outset and be more on the attack and not feel your way into the game.”

Tampa Bay starter Nick Martinez fared about as properly. The right-hander lasted 5-1/3 innings of three-run baseball, hanging out six and strolling one.

While there was motion on the bases for both starters, the sport lulled until the seventh. A pair of toes separated Rushing’s foul ball from a home run. Reliever Steven Matz didn’t get so fortunate with Rojas, who delivered his first homer since April 20.

Rojas acknowledged that pinch-hitting has been a problem to adapt to, finding the pitches he can do the most injury on and placing together good at-bats in big moments. “I’ve never been a really good pinch-hitter,” he said.

After consulting with gamers such as Jason Heyward and Chase Utley and his former Venezuelan winter ball teammates, Rojas said he feels his mentality has modified and he’s been in a position to capitalize on more errors.

“The mentality for us bench players is to be the best players off the bench [in] the league,” Rojas said.

Espinal to be DFA’d

To make room for Tommy Edman on Tuesday’s roster in his return after he underwent ankle surgical procedure over the winter, the Dodgers will designate Santiago Espinal for task. Espinal had returned to the roster May 29 after being DFA’d that month. He went 5 for eight on the journey but didn’t play Monday.

“[Espinal] has been great for us, but the fit right now with our ballclub just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” Roberts said.