Each time he made the walk from the batter's box to the home dugout, Dalton Rushing's frustration was plain as day, from the look on his face down to the cadence of his walk. Rushing is not one to hide the emotions that accompany everything he does on the baseball diamond. He wears the lows and the highs on his sleeve for all to see. So on a night where he came up empty-handed in his first four trips to the plate, his relief was apparent when he came through in a big way in his final at-bat. With the Dodgers down to their final out and the tying and winning runs on base, Rushing came up with the big hit his team needed against Orioles closer Ryan Helsley. Rushing drove a line-drive single to right field that brought one run home, and the other scored when the throw home from right fielder Tyler O'Neill got away from catcher Samuel Basallo, sealing a 6-5 walk-off victory for L.A. on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. It was Rushing's first career walk-off in the big leagues, turning the frustration that had built throughout the evening into pure elation as he was mobbed by his teammates. "You're in that moment right there," Rushing said. "Nothing that's happened the first four at-bats, three at-bats, however many you had before, none of it matters." By the end of the night, Rushing's trio of strikeouts earlier in the game weren't top of mind. The way he finished the game was. "You strike out three times, you line out your first at-bat, you're frustrated, you're trying to stay in the game, calling games," manager Dave Roberts said. "And then the game's on the line, and it's your spot. And so for him to flush it all and to flip his entire game and help us win a ballgame was huge." The Dodgers looked like they were in total control early on in Friday's contest. Roki Sasaki was sharp, and the bats struck quickly to build him an early lead on a Max Muncy two-run single in the first inning and an Andy Pages RBI double in the second.
