”The Mets and Colorado is 32,” he said. ”That’s a whole lot. You think the Yankees will score in the first inning? It’s tough, huh?”

First http://www.lionsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-austin-bryant-jersey , there was a violent play at the plate that led to two ejections and a benches-clearing incident. Then the game was won on a play at the plate with an unusual tag.

Enrique Hernandez dodged home on a wild throw by pitcher Matt Bush in the 11th inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers edged the Texas Rangers 3-2 on Wednesday night.

Hernandez drew a leadoff walk from Jesse Chavez (2-1) and moved up on a long flyout. Yasiel Puig was intentionally walked and Chavez was yanked after a walk to Logan Forsythe loaded the bases.

Austin Barnes followed with a comebacker, and Bush reached out to grab it. But Bush hurried as he spun around, and his throw home for a potential forceout pulled catcher Carlos Perez off the plate. Hernandez stepped over Barnes’ bat, pirouetted around the catcher and touched home with his right hand, leaving Perez tagging nothing but air.

”Just bringing back my Latino roots, showing off my salsa moves,” Hernandez joked.

Matt Kemp gave Hernandez a rave review: ”Great slide, avoided the tag, very limber.”

The Rangers asked for a replay review, and the safe call was upheld. After Barnes’ at-bat, the Dodgers would’ve run out of position players – instead, Bush’s error sent Texas to its season-worst sixth straight loss. The last-place Rangers got swept for the third time this season and second straight series.

Adam Liberatore (2-1) got the win in relief.

In the third, Kemp and Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos got ejected and the benches and bullpens cleared.

With two outs Rashan Gary Jersey , Hernandez singled to right and Kemp tried to score from second base. Chirinos caught a pinpoint throw by Nomar Mazara and had his glove out to tag Kemp.

Kemp barreled into Chirinos with his arms up, leading with his shoulder. Chirinos’ helmet flew off as he got knocked over and Kemp fell, too. Chirinos held onto the ball for the out.

Chirinos and Kemp jostled as they got up. That led to both benches and bullpens clearing and forming a scrum at the plate. Kemp was restrained by Rangers starter Cole Hamels.

”I didn’t know he was going to come after me like that,” Chirinos said. ”I got mad when Kemp got up and he leaned into me and put his shoulder into me. That’s when I rushed him. Everyone knows the rule, they preach it to us in spring training. It was emotional.”

No punches were thrown.

”It’s not a big deal,” Kemp said. ”Two guys shoving each other and it’s over.”

The rules outlaw runners from plowing into catchers, and catchers have to give runners a lane to the plate in most cases. In this play, the throw home took Chirinos directly into Kemp’s path to the plate.

”I think it’s unclear to everybody,” Kemp said of the newer rule. ”He was blocking the plate. I don’t know the rule. I don’t even know how it works. I didn’t have a clear path to slide. All I could really think about when I saw him blocking the plate was Washington when I slid into home and messed up my ankle. I didn’t want to do that again.”

Crew chief Bill Welke said Kemp didn’t violate the rule, and both players were ejected for their tussle after the play.

”The runner is protected by the blocking of the plate if he slides,” Welke told a pool reporter after the game. ”Kemp choose not to slide, therefore he lost his protection.”

Hernandez called the third-inning brouhaha ”a little bit of old-school baseball.”

”I’m one of the older guys now and when I first came up that’s how they slid into home, but the game has transitioned http://www.packersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-darnell-savage-jr.-jersey ,” Hamels said. ”Sportsmanship has changed. I can’t give you definite answer if Kemp broke the rule or not. It’s a tough way to lose.”

With two outs in the ninth and Yasiel Puig on third, Delino DeShields robbed pinch-hitter Yasmani Grandal of a home run at the center field wall. DeShields leaped and caught the ball before landing on his rear to send the game into extra innings.

Texas tied the game 2-all in the fourth on RBI singles by Jurickson Profar and Joey Gallo.

The Dodgers led 1-0 in the first on Justin Turner’s homer. They added a run in the second on a double steal by Puig and Forsythe. Puig scored from third.

Hamels allowed two runs – one earned – and five hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked four. Turner’s homer was the 18th given up by Hamels this season.

Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda allowed two runs and five hits in five innings while facing the Rangers for the first time in his career. He walked three and struck out one in his first start since May 29 after being on the DL with a right hip strain.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rangers: SS Elvis Andrus (right elbow fracture) went 1-for-7 in his first two rehab games at Double-A Frisco and was to set to be the DH and play seven innings on Wednesday. Manager Jeff Banister says Andrus’ return depends on when he’s in shape to play every day. Andrus isn’t expected to rejoin the team before this weekend. … LHP Matt Moore won’t start this weekend and is being sent to the bullpen to work on his delivery and make necessary adjustments.

Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw (lower back strain) threw a bullpen for the second straight day, with president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and manager Dave Roberts watching. Kershaw also worked on mechanics with pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. … LHP Rich Hill (left middle finger blister) will make a rehab start Thursday for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga. If it goes well, Hill will rejoin the rotation next week in Chicago. &# Arthur Rosen puzzled over the photocopied sheet of paper listing all sorts of exotic bets on baseball games, including one in which the number of runs scored and hits made in Tuesday night’s New York Yankees-Seattle Mariners game had to exceed 29.

”I lived in Vegas 20 years and I never heard of a bet like that,” the 83-year-old retired truck driver said.

Rosen was one of more than 100 people at a New Jersey racetrack at 1:30 on a Tuesday afternoon, ready to plunk down money on professional sports in the first week it has been legal here. Although revenue figures won’t be released for a few weeks yet, Monmouth Park racetrack and Atlantic City’s Borgata casino say they’re delighted with the extra business sports betting has generated in its first few days.

”We’re really pleased with the early results, especially considering it’s a slow time on the sports betting calendar,” said Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill US, which runs the sports book at Monmouth Park.

Likewise, the Borgata is seeing an uptick in business at its race book Elgton Jenkins Jersey , which has been expanded to cover sports bets.

”The revenue was definitely beyond what it would have been,” said spokeswoman Liza Costandino.

Sports betting is bringing new demographics into what was traditionally an older, male clientele at the Borgata’s horse racing betting operation. Younger customers are stopping in to bet on sports, including more women.

”A full bachelorette party came in and they all made sports bets,” Costandino said.

The casinos and tracks report their sports betting revenue to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, which will publicly release monthly totals along with traditional casino revenue. The next such report is due for release July 12, and neither the Borgata nor Monmouth would reveal their totals before then.

Last month, New Jersey won a U.S. Supreme Court case that cleared the way for all 50 states to offer sports betting, including wagers on individual games, should they desire. Delaware was the first state to begin doing so after the court decision; New Jersey was the second.

So far in New Jersey, just the Borgata and Monmouth Park are offering sports betting. The soon-to-open Ocean Resort Casino, formerly known as Revel, is due to open June 28 and plans to offer sports betting on its first day of operation http://www.packersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-jace-sternberger-jersey , owner Bruce Deifik said.

The property will go before state gambling regulators on Wednesday to seek a casino license. William Hill will run the sports betting operation for Ocean Resort as well as Monmouth Park. Eventually, most of Atlantic City’s casinos (there will be nine by the end of next week) and its three racetracks plan to offer sports betting.

Both facilities said the early action has been mostly on individual baseball games and World Cup soccer matches. Customers also are making long-term bets on who will win the World Series or Super Bowl, a market segment expected to increase as the baseball playoffs and the start of the NFL season draw closer in the fall.

Michael Black, of Tinton Falls, New Jersey, was at Monmouth Park to wager on Tuesday’s Cubs-Dodgers baseball game, betting that the two teams combined would score 9 or more runs. A boiler installer, Black tends to be busier in the fall, and has been able to visit Monmouth Park several times since sports betting began last Thursday. He’s up $175 so far, he said.

”As soon as football opens, this place is going to be packed,” he said. ”This has been a long time coming.”

Fred Reyes, of Jersey City Dexter Williams Jersey , had been to the track four times since last Thursday, and had yet to lose a sports bet.

”So far I’m up close to $1,000,” he said, betting on the Cubs to win Tuesday.

Rosen was enjoying the many novel ways he could risk money on sporting events, particularly on a bet combining runs and hits in a baseball game.


—

Follow Wayne Parry at