Teoscar Hernández delivers Dodgers to thrilling

Teoscar Hernández stepped into precisely the type of state of affairs the Dodgers had failed to capitalize on during the past couple of video games: runners in scoring place. And with one out in the ninth inning, the Dodgers had been working out of probabilities for a comeback.

Hernández labored a full rely against St. Louis nearer Riley O’Brien with runners on first and second. Then he acquired a sinker up and over the center of the plate, a pitch he may drive. And he did.

Hernández lined it into the left-center subject hole. Tommy Edman scored simply, and Mookie Betts slid across the plate head first as the throw got here in high and too late.

The Dodgers walked off the Cardinals with a 3-2 victory Thursday, narrowly avoiding a sequence sweep at Dodger Stadium.

“We needed it,” supervisor Dave Roberts said. “Obviously for seven innings, it didn’t look good at all. Then we found a way to scratch one across. But a win’s a win, however it looks.”

Before Hernández’s walk-off double, the Dodgers (83-57) had taken 26 at-bats with runners in scoring place over two video games. Only one of those had resulted in a hit.

Hernández, however, unlocked one thing on a long fly out he hit in Detroit on Saturday.

“It’s just the way my body was reacting, was more under control,” he said. “I was able to notice everything that I was doing, even though it was an out. …That was the swing that is leading to all the good results that I’ve been having lately.”

Hernández, who entered this sequence with a .668 OPS against right-handed pitchers, had been struggling for so long that Roberts contemplated a left-field platoon.

“I told Dave, if you feel like you have to use somebody else in there, just do it,” Hernández said. “But know that I am going to keep working and I’m going to try to be ready for the times that you need me.”

On Sunday in Detroit, Hernández hit a home run off Framber Valdez. And when rosters expanded on Sept. 1, the Dodgers determined against bringing up an outfielder who may share enjoying time with Hernández, betting that he may end his hunch.

Hernández went six for 13 in three video games against the Cardinals (70-71), with Roberts remarking it was “as good as I’ve seen him versus [right-handers] since April.”

“I’ve always said that we’re better when he’s in the lineup,” Roberts said. “But performance certainly matters, and this series, albeit a small sample, was really good. As you get to the postseason and towards the end of the season, we’ve got to start figuring out who we can play, who we can count on, who’s dependable. And the at-bats he’s taken these last three games, really good.”

Hernández and Edman — hitting leadoff in place of Shohei Ohtani, who acquired the break day while dealing with a nagging biceps drawback — had been the only Dodgers with hits Thursday. Edman led the group with 4, but Hernández’ second knock was the most important one.

“It was huge to finally get that big hit,” Edman said of Hernández. “We were kind of pressing a little bit in those first two games. Everybody was kind of trying to do too much in the big spots. Teo came through huge in that moment. Just can’t say enough about him, and that was just such a huge at-bat, and able to kind of steal that win today.”