LOS ANGELES -- Rather than let a leaky bullpen and a botched transfer spoil their night, the Dodgers battled back to cue up "I Love L.A."
Max Muncy's bases-loaded RBI single walked off the Royals, 5-4, for a victory in 10 innings on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, his second big hit with the bases loaded in as many games. The back-and-forth win sealed a series victory for the Dodgers, who entered the three-game set having dropped three in a row.
While Blake Snell's return from the injured list went about as well as it could have, he received one run of support -- on Mookie Betts' solo homer in the second inning -- and exited with a no-decision. L.A. briefly went back in front on the strength of back-to-back RBI doubles from Alex Call and Teoscar Hernández in the bottom of the seventh.
Righty Evan Phillips, who had gone unscored upon in six straight appearances amid a rocky return from Tommy John surgery, struck out the first batter he faced in the top of the eighth but did not record another out. The Royals tied the game on back-to-back singles from Jac Caglianone and Salvador Perez, leading manager Dave Roberts to lift Phillips in favor of lefty Jack Dreyer.
Kansas City scored the go-ahead run on an error when center fielder Andy Pages could not pull off a clean transfer after snagging a Carter Jensen liner. Dreyer struck out Michael Massey to keep L.A. within a run.
The Dodgers answered right back in the bottom of the eighth, tying the game once more on Betts' third hit of the night, an RBI single. After Edgardo Henriquez tossed a 1-2-3 top of the ninth, Nate Pearson followed suit for the Royals, and the contest went to extras.
Seth Halvorsen kept Kansas City off the board in his Dodgers debut, putting L.A. in position to walk off in the bottom of the 10th. With Shohei Ohtani on second as the automatic runner, and Freddie Freeman and Kyle Tucker being intentionally walked to load the bases, Muncy smacked a 2-2 fastball from Lucas Erceg into center field to send his team to victory.