Pauley's 429-Foot Bomb Flips the Script on LA
Miami erased a two-run deficit in the second inning and never looked back, beating the Dodgers 4-3 on Saturday. Graham Pauley's two-run shot to right center — all 429 feet of it — was the swing that broke Los Angeles's back.
The Dodgers came out swinging. Mookie Betts went deep to left center at 399 feet, and Max Muncy followed two batters later with a 393-foot shot to center. Just like that, it was 2-0 Los Angeles, Tyler Glasnow was dealing, and this looked like it might be a long afternoon for Miami. It wasn't. Glasnow walked four batters in four innings, and the Marlins made him pay in the second. Pauley launched a 429-foot two-run homer to right center, scoring Caissie and tying the game at 2. The win probability swung from 31% to 49% on that single swing. Then Otto Lopez singled to right, Hernández scored, and Conine moved to second — just like that, Miami led 3-2 before the game was three innings old.
The story of the night was how Miami kept manufacturing runs without needing a big inning. In the fifth, Conine — who finished a perfect 3-for-3 — scored on a Sanoja fielder's choice grounder to shortstop, and the play got messier when a throwing error by Betts allowed Marsee to reach second safely and Lopez to advance to third. That pushed the lead to 4-2, and it looks like that cushion was exactly what Miami needed. Glasnow's final line — 4.0 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 7 K — tells the whole story: the strikeouts were there, but the walks were a killer. Justin Wrobleski and Seth Halvorsen kept it clean out of the bullpen, combining for 3.0 scoreless innings, but the damage was already done.
Los Angeles made it interesting in the ninth. Feduccia singled to left, scoring De Paula to cut the deficit to 4-3, and the Dodgers had the tying run on base. It wasn't enough. Miami held on for the 4-3 win. Lopez went 2-for-2 with an RBI, Conine was untouchable at the plate, and Pauley's two-RBI homer appears to have been the decisive blow of the afternoon. For the Dodgers, Betts and Muncy each homered — both going 1-for-their-respective-at-bats — but the offense couldn't sustain it against a Miami club that looked locked in from the second inning on.