Barnes' bunt, Mookie's 2-run single bookend 8th-inning comeback

LOS ANGELES -- Things changed in the blink of an eye for the Dodgers on Saturday afternoon. Really, the span of four pitches.

Held scoreless into the eighth inning, the Dodgers used some small ball to rally and beat the Marlins, 3-1, in Game 1 of a doubleheader prompted by Hurricane Hilary.

And for the second time in three games, it was backup catcher Austin Barnes -- in the midst of the worst offensive season of his career -- who played the hero for Los Angeles in the eighth inning. On Thursday, he broke a scoreless tie against the Brewers with his first homer of the season. On Saturday, it was a perfectly executed squeeze bunt to tie it.

“That's been my game my whole career, my whole life,” said Barnes. “I'm just trying to do all the little things. I'm not a big guy, obviously, at 5’9”, and just doing the little things to help the team win is something that I do take pride in.”

The Dodgers were unable to get much going against Marlins rookie righty Eury Pérez, against whom they struck out 10 times in six innings. They were similarly stymied by Andrew Nardi in a six-pitch seventh.

Things weren’t going to get much easier with veteran David Robertson coming on for the eighth. One of the Marlins’ big pickups at this year’s Trade Deadline, Robertson has spent much of his 15-year career as one of MLB’s best relievers.

That didn’t daunt the bottom of the Dodgers’ order. With one out, James Outman worked the count full before drawing a walk, then advanced to third base on a Kiké Hernández single to center field.

Barnes came up with the bunt sign on, sending the first pitch foul before laying down an excellent squeeze that first baseman Josh Bell threw wild to home, allowing Outman to score and tie it.

“That’s a play that we run a lot, especially with me over the years, so I'm confident it’s a hard play to defend,” said Barnes.

Barnes entered the day slashing .143/.221/.183 with an OPS+ of just 11, so two impressive plate appearances aren’t going to turn his season around. But Saturday showed one major reason why the Dodgers still value him so much, in spite of his stats in the box.

“I give Austin a lot of credit,” said manager Dave Roberts. “The last few weeks, he's being a complete baseball player. He really is. And sometimes, when you're struggling, you want to swing your way out of it. But for him to be able to step back and play for the good of the team, his teammates, and to win a baseball game, I trust him more than anyone in that spot. And he's come through more times than not.”

After Barnes, it was the top of the order’s turn. Mookie Betts lined a base hit to left, allowing Hernández and Barnes to score before Evan Phillips closed things out in the top of the ninth. The Dodgers evened the series and have now won 16 of their 18 games played in August.

“I think this team has just the ability to control the strike zone, and the moment doesn’t get too big, the inning,” said Roberts. “... So you just know that when the game gets kind of more intense, higher leverage, our guys are still going to be able to manage their emotions. And I think that’s what speaks to the success that we’ve had lately.”