Baltimore Orioles outlast LA Dodgers in 14-iing marathon

LOS ANGELES >> There are no ties in baseball, only subtle hints to wrap things up after the ninth iing has ended.

For the Dodgers, the hints weren’t very subtle Wednesday in a 6-4 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Pitcher Kenta Maeda pinch ran in the eighth iing. Another pitcher, Scott Kazmir, pinch hit in the 13th iing. Organist Dieter Ruehle played Take Me Out To The Ballgame during the seventh-iing stretch and again during the 14th-iing stretch.

By the time manager Dave Roberts was ejected for arguing a low strike called by umpire Pat Hoberg in the 14th iing, there were almost as many security guards lining the field than fans in the front row.

Jonathan Schoop’s two-run double off Chris Hatcher in the top of the 14th provided the final score. Hatcher was also forced to bat for himself with the bases loaded in the bottom of the iing because the Dodgers had long since run out of position players. Hatcher, a former catcher, grounded out against Orioles closer Zach Britton to end the game.

“It’s an extra-iing baseball game,” a somber Hatcher said. “They happen.”

And when they happen, there are consequences. The Dodgers already needed to make a roster move to make room for pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu, who makes his first start of the season Thursday.

They’ll re-consider that move after eight relievers threw 186 pitches in relief of starter Bud Norris on Wednesday. Pedro Baez was the Dodgers’ only reliever who didn’t appear Wednesday and he’d pitched the first two games of the series.

Ryu maxed out at 84 pitches in eight minor league rehab games, so anything more than a five-iing start against the San Diego Padres will be considered a nice bonus.

“This is definitely not a tu-key game,” Roberts said. “There’s a lot of stress in there, I think, for everyone. Our guys competed. It was a long one.”

Generally speaking, the pitchers got the better of the competition.

The two teams combined for 36 strikeouts, breaking a 20-year-old Dodger Stadium record. The “Strikeout Meter” on the left field scoreboard ran out of room for “K”s. The Dodgers went 1 for 14 with ruers in scoring position, the Orioles 2 for 11.

The haze of a 5-hour, 26-minute loss obscured a couple noteworthy milestones. Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley had six hits, a new career high in his 1,660th career game. And rookie shortstop Corey Seager extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a double.

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Mark Trumbo hit two solo home runs, his major-league leading 25th and 26th of the season. He also scored the Orioles’ first run after hustling out a popup that Seager lost in the afteoon sun. That was at 12:32 p.m., when there were no shadows on the field.

Justin Tuer’s home run in the first iing off Kevin Gausman gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead. The Orioles scored single runs in the second, third and fourth iings to pull ahead 3-2.

Luck tued in the Dodgers’ favor in the fifth iing when Adrian Gonzalez dumped a weak hit into shallow center field in front of a charging Adam Jones. Seager and Utley both scored, giving the Dodgers a 4-3 lead and giving Gonzalez seven RBIs in six July games.

But Trumbo tied the game, 4-4, in the top of the sixth iing with a home run off reliever Casey Fien. The former Angel has five multi-homer games this season.

Norris pitched five iings and left in line for his second win in as many starts since he was acquired from the Atlanta Braves. The right-hander, who pitched for the Orioles from 2013-15, gave up three eaed runs on six hits and two walks. He struck out five.

The Dodgers blew a fantastic chance to take the lead in the seventh iing. With Dylan Bundy pitching for the Orioles, a single by Utley and a double by Seager put ruers at second and third base with none out. But Bundy came back to strike out Tuer, Trayce Thompson and Howie Kendrick, sandwiched around an intentional walk to Adrian Gonzalez.

Again in the eighth iing, the Dodgers loaded the bases on an A.J. Ellis walk, a double by Utley and an intentional walk to Seager. Orioles pitcher Brad Brach then got Tuer to pop up, ending the iing.

The Orioles tried to force the issue in the 13th iing when pinch hitter Joey Rickard singled with one out. Jones then lined a single into the right-field coer and Rickard was cut down at home plate on a relay throw from Yasiel Puig to Utley.

The Dodgers have already played a longer game this year, a 17-iing win in San Diego on May 22. That game ended similarly, when the team with the most tired pitcher on the mound lost. It just happened to be the Padres; the Dodgers won, 9-5.

This time it was the Dodgers. Hatcher, who’d thrown two scoreless iings less than 24 hours earlier, was the sacrificial lamb.

Six Dodgers played all 14 iings. They felt it, too.

“You’d like to think physically, but sometimes it’s mental at the same time,” Seager said. “To be locked in for that long, it’s challenging for sure.”