Teoscar Hernandez makes up for horrific defensive mistake with key hit in Dodgers’ win over Giants

It’s a good thing Teoscar Hernández’s bat is starting to heat up. Because on Thursday night, he needed it to redeem a horrific defensive mistake. With the Dodgers leading the Giants by two runs in the fifth inning, Hernández made an unthinkable play in left field, turning what should have been a routine hit into a two-run, game-tying, inside-the-park home run .

Teoscar Hernandez celebrates in the sixth inning after hitting his second double of the game in the Dodgers’ 5-2 win over the Giants on May 14, 2026 in Los Angeles. Getty Images It started with Jung Hoo Lee hitting a shallow flare down the line. It got worse when, after initially giving chase, Hernández pulled up early, evidently expecting the ball to bounce over the short wall in foul territory for a ground-rule double.

Instead, disaster struck. The ball not only stayed in play, but hopped past Hernández and rolled all the way into the left field corner. By the time he retrieved it, Lee was already at full speed and getting waved home.

The relay was too late. The game was suddenly tied. For a Dodgers team that has been scuffling lately, entering Thursday with a 10-14 record since April 18, it was the kind of sequence that threatened to lead to another maddening defeat.