Conine, Pauley and a costly Dodgers error swing Marlins past Los Angeles 4-3

The two-homer cushion vanished fast

Los Angeles did almost all of its early damage with one kind of swing. Mookie Betts opened the scoring with a 399-foot homer to left-center, and Max Muncy followed later in the first with a 393-foot drive to center. That gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead despite a lineup that would finish the night with only four hits in 31 at-bats.

Miami’s answer came before the game could settle into that script. Graham Pauley erased the deficit with a two-run homer to right-center in the second, bringing home Owen Caissie and leveling the score at 2-2. The inning kept moving from there: Otto Lopez singled to right to score Heriberto Hernandez and send Griffin Conine to second, turning a quick Dodgers advantage into a 3-2 Marlins lead.

That reversal told the story of the night better than the final line alone. Tyler Glasnow struck out seven in four innings, but the Marlins still found four runs on five hits and four walks against him. On the other side, Tyler Phillips surrendered both Los Angeles home runs in 3.2 innings, yet those were the only runs he allowed. The Dodgers hit two balls out of the park and still spent most of the evening trying to restart an offense that never fully returned.

One mistake becomes the margin

The middle innings belonged to pitchers who kept the score from swinging again. Los Angeles received exactly what it needed from its bullpen after Glasnow departed: Jack Dreyer, Justin Wrobleski and Seth Halvorsen combined for four scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and one walk. That work kept the Dodgers within one swing, and in a game decided by a run, it mattered.

But the Marlins found the extra run anyway in the fifth, and they found it in the kind of sequence that lingers. Javier Sanoja’s grounder to short brought Conine home, and the play grew larger when Jakob Marsee reached second on a throwing error by Betts while Lopez moved to third. Miami’s lead was 4-2 then, and that was the margin that survived to the last out.

The Dodgers did make one final push. Hunter Feduccia singled to left in the ninth to score Josue De Paula and cut the deficit to 4-3. Even there, the shape of the game stayed consistent: Los Angeles created just enough traffic to threaten, but not enough clean contact to flip the result. The Dodgers drew five walks, stole two bases and saw 155 pitches, yet they scored only once after the opening inning. Miami’s staff, spread across six pitchers, bent more than once and still never gave away the lead.

Our take: a narrow win with obvious homework

For the Dodgers, this is the sort of loss that points in two directions at once. The first is situational hitting. A club that drew five walks, stole two bases and left 11 men on base had opportunities beyond the two solo homers from Betts and Muncy. The second is cleaner execution in the field. Betts’ throwing error did not start the fifth-inning trouble by itself, but in a 4-3 game it helped turn a routine scoring play into a more damaging inning. When the offense produces only four hits, that extra 90 feet starts to feel expensive.

For the Marlins, the result is good and the warning label is obvious. Griffin Conine reached four times, Lopez went 2-for-2 with an RBI, and Pauley supplied the biggest swing of the night. That is real production, and the bullpen’s 5.1 innings of one-run work deserve real credit too. Still, Miami left 19 runners on base while collecting seven hits, five walks and two hit batters. Our take: the Marlins earned this win, but they also kept it tighter than necessary. Against a Dodgers lineup that hit .129 for the game, Miami had enough traffic to make the margin safer. Instead, it needed every bit of that fifth-inning insurance run to hold on.

Scoring moments

1. 1st Inning

   Betts homered to left center (399 feet).

2. 1st Inning

   Muncy homered to center (393 feet).

3. 2nd Inning

   Pauley homered to right center (429 feet), Caissie scored.

4. 2nd Inning

   Lopez singled to right, Hernández scored, Conine to second.

5. 5th Inning

   Sanoja grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, Conine scored, Marsee safe at second on throwing error by shortstop Betts, Lopez to third.

6. 9th Inning

   Feduccia singled to left, De Paula scored.