The game swung on the tiniest of moments, a flutter of Sergio Romo’s shoulders that a blinking man might miss. Mike Muchlinski, the umpire behind the plate in a 13-5 Dodgers loss to Arizona, did not blink.
He charged from his perch to point at Romo in the eighth inning and signal a balk, which drove in the go-ahead run for the Diamondbacks. An avalanche would follow.
The bullpen of the Dodgers, perhaps the club’s finest asset, unraveled by allowing eight runs in the eighth. Called in to put out a fire created by Ross Stripling, Luis Avilan walked in the tying run.