In the eighth inning on Tuesday night, it looked like the Dodgers were trying to give the game away.

In the end, all they were really doing was setting up some late theatrics.

In a back-and-forth, twist-and-turn, 5-4 thriller of a win over the Kansas City Royals, the Dodgers took another step forward from their recent two-week slump –– overcoming a bafflingly blown two-run lead in the eighth by ultimately winning on Max Muncy’s walk-off single in the 10th.

“I just love the way we really, really bore down and competed tonight,” manager Dave Roberts said, harkening back to calls for renewed urgency after the Dodgers’ recent 1-8 skid.

“You just have to keep moving forward,” Muncy added. “I think that’s been one of the biggest things we’ve been doing.”

The Dodgers certainly had to move forward on Tuesday, in a game such dramatics shouldn’t have been required.

The team got a dominant six-inning, one-run start from Blake Snell in his return from the injured list. They broke a 1-1 deadlock with a two-run rally in the seventh, when Mookie Betts, Alex Call and Teoscar Hernández all hit doubles. 

But instead of coasting the rest of the way with a 3-1 advantage, they quickly let the game go flying back off the rails.

Right-handed reliever Evan Phillips created a mess in the top of the eighth, following a one-out walk by allowing three-straight singles that tied up the score again. 

Then, after Jack Dreyer took over, came the night’s most confounding moment.

Dreyer got Carter Jensen to hit a routine fly ball to deep center. But after making the catch, outfielder Andy Pages somehow let the ball slip out of his hand on the transfer and sent it skipping behind him back toward the wall.

At second base, Royals runner Jac Caglianone went from retreating to the bag, to getting waved all the way home for a go-ahead run.

Max Muncy #13 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates after hitting a walk-off RBI single against the Kansas City Royals during the tenth inning at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (2026 Getty Images) Getty Images

Of all the games the Dodgers have given away lately, none had threatened to feel so gift-wrapped as this one.

With their backs against the wall, however, the two-time defending champions responded.

In the bottom of the eighth, Betts got the game tied once more, slicing an opposite-field RBI single for his third hit of the night (he also snapped an 18-game home run drought with a solo blast in the second).

Then, after the teams traded zeros in the ninth, the Dodgers finally prevailed in the 10th.

Right-handed reliever Seth Halvorsen survived the top half of the inning, stranding a runner at third in his debut outing with the team. 

Moments later, the Dodgers were pouring out of the dugout to mob Muncy, who gave the team its first set of back-to-back wins since July 29-30 on a one-out line drive to right-center field with the bases loaded.

“To relent and give up that lead again tonight, but to fight back and recapture the lead was great,” Roberts said. “It’s just guys coming together and being ready when called upon. It doesn’t matter who’s playing, where you hit, who’s pitching. Just find a way to win a game … The last two nights is what we’re looking for.”