A.J. Ellis continued his magical season on Saturday night, hitting a walk-off three-run home run to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 6-3 win over the Houston Astros in the middle game of a three-game series at Dodger Stadium. The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Dodgers, and improved their home record to 20-5 on the season.
The Dodgers have yet to lose three games in a row this season.
The nine-inning game took three hours and 50 minutes to complete on Saturday night, as both starting pitchers labored. Chad Billingsley struggled early but managed to get through five innings, throwing 99 pitches in the process. Bud Norris threw 43 pitches in the fourth inning alone and left trailing 3-2 with two outs in the fifth inning after a whopping 116 pitches.
The Astros pushed across a run in the eighth inning to tie the game, but that just set the stage for Ellis in the ninth inning.
The 31-year old first year starting catcher hit a total of four home runs in the last three years combined between Triple A and the Dodgers. But now Ellis has five home runs on the season and is hitting .317/.442/.517. The home run was the second walk-off RBI for Ellis in the last nine days, and the fourth of his career.
Chris Capuano starts the series finale for the Dodgers on Sunday afternoon, against southpaw J.A. Happ for Houston.
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