Tucker’s first of hopefully many walk-offs for the Dodgers
In a game with both sides taking advantage of walks, Dodgers got the last laugh, walking it off on a Kyle Tucker single
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 27: Kyle Tucker #23 of the Los Angeles Dodgers runs after hitting a two run walk-off single against the Miami Marlins in the ninth inning at Dodger Stadium on April 27, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) | Getty Images They say what goes around comes around, and in a game in which walks played a pivotal part in the Marlins’ handling of Dodgers’ ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the same applied for the Dodgers against closer Pete Fairbanks to set up a comeback win—Kyle Tucker had his first signature moment as a Dodger, delivering a two-out walk-off single to win it 5-4 in the ninth. KYLE TUCKER WALKS IT OFF!
pic. twitter. com/EdxoHGjLWa — Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 28, 2026 For a starter who fought against the tide for what felt like his entire performance, Yamamoto still came ridiculously close to delivering excellent results, even if the execution was nowhere near its finest.
Sadly, a mistake against Liam Hicks in one of his last pitches in the fifth inning left the yard for a home run, driving in three runs due to Yamamoto’s issues keeping the Marlins off the bases—over Yamamoto’s five full innings of work, the Marlins earned four walks against the usually incredibly efficient Dodger starter, two of them coming around to score on that Hicks homer. Other than that three-run shot in the fifth, the only other run the Marlins had scored against Yamamoto came on an error in the third, as Hyeseong Kim failed to throw out Javier Sanoja on a ground ball with the bases loaded—the damage could’ve been bigger, but Yamamoto got the following batter to close the two-out threat. Increasingly defaulting to his trusty splitter as the game went on—with his vast pitching arsenal out of sync—Yamamoto left one in a 1-2 count a bit too high for Hicks, one of the few hitters he had dominated in this one until that point.
There’s extra significance in that particular at-bat, as it was the first home run and extra-base hit of any kind against Yamamoto’s splitter in 2026—and only the second home run by a lefty off a Yamamoto splitter since he joined the Dodgers ahead of the 2024 campaign. While those four runs (3 of them earned) in five innings were well below Yamamoto’s standard, it was hardly a performance that removed the Dodgers from the game. In fact, considering they were facing a struggling Chris Paddack and also the success of their bullpen as of late, the Dodgers had a considerable chance to take this one.