Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Diamondbacks are … well, they are something, huh? They’ve now lost 17 straight games, including the last three to the Dodgers, who completed the sweep. It was not without excitement, however, as the D-backs scored seven unanswered runs, but they eventually fell 9-8. The Dodgers have now won 10 of their last 12.
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Alex Young started for the Diamondbacks as another somewhat emergency option for them. After facing a two-out rally in the 1st thanks to back-to-back singles and a wild pitch, he managed to escape. He also faced the minimum in the 2nd, but the 3rd is when everything just collapsed.
With one down, Chris Taylor singled, AJ Pollock walked, and Justin Turner singled to drive in the game’s first run. Albert Pujols immediately followed by golfing a ball down-and-in to left for a no-doubt three-run homer, his 11th of the year.
After Andy Burns followed the homer with a walk, Steven Souza Jr. continued to produce, tripling past a bumbling Josh Reddick in right for another run and a 5-0 lead.
Corbin Martin entered in the 4th in relief of Young and got into an immediate mess. Opposing starter Tony Gonsolin doubled to start, then CT3 bunted for a hit, and Pollock ripped a double for a 6-0 lead. The Dodgers eventually loaded the bases with one out later in the inning but a double play prevented further humiliation.
Meanwhile, Gonsolin has kept the damage to a minimum this year but has struggled with pitch counts. That wasn’t as big of an issue this afternoon, as he gave up just a single in his first three innings. He got hurt in the 4th after a lead-off double was cashed in by an Eduardo Escobar single to make the score 6-1. After he got the next two batters out, Dave Roberts somewhat confusingly removed him at just 46 pitches.
Despite the Padres series starting tomorrow, they used the pen in the 4th, starting with Garrett Cleavinger who at least got out of the frame quickly and also got the 5th without much trouble.
Martin continued for Arizona and started another mess in the 5th, issuing a lead-off walk to Gavin Lux and giving up a single to Austin Barnes. However, what happened next wasn’t his fault, as Cleavinger bunted and Josh VanMeter threw the ball away to score Lux. After a strikeout, Pollock doubled to score yet another run and make it 9-1.
David Price was used in the 6th and didn’t look his best, giving up a double, single, and then a single to Red Dick led to a run to make it an 9-2 game.
With two outs in the 7th, Joe Mantiply entered for Martin and walked a batter to create a minor threat before getting out of it unscathed. Ryan Buchter got the 8th in 1-2-3 fashion, and Stefan Crichton entered for the 9th. He gave up a single and hit a batter, but rebounded by getting a ground out. Noe Ramirez entered and CT3 stole second, but he got a strikeout and a fly out to close the book on the Dodgers.
Meanwhile, things were getting exciting.
Edwin Uceta cruised through a perfect 7th that included a strikeout, but he certainly didn’t manage that in the 8th. Uceta issued a walk to start, then with one out gave up a single and another walk to load the bases. Reddick then singled to plate two runs and corner the runners, and after Uceta rebounded with a strikeout, he then allowed another single to Christian Walker to plate another run to cut the lead to 9-5.
Victor Gonzalez then entered in the 9th and induced a grounder to first, but he didn’t cover the bag and Pujols couldn’t beat the runner, so the bases were loaded. That became a gigantic mess after he walked Josh VanMeter to force a run in and Ketel Marte singled sharply to plate two more. That hilariously made it a 9-8 game and Victor thankfully got a ground out to end the inning.
Kenley Jansen entered in the 9th to protect the one-run advantage. After getting one out on one pitch with a groundout, he then got a strikeout, and broke a bat to secure the win.
Phew.
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Gavin Lux face.
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The Dodgers improve to 44-27 on the season, which puts them over the 100-pace threshold. Unfortunately, the Giants blew out the Phillies, so they still trail them in the NL West by 1.5 games.
The next series is gonna be a bigger challenge as they travel to San Diego for three games against the Padres starting tomorrow at 4:00 PM HST/7:00 PM PST/10:00 PM EST. Julio Urias will look to regain his early season form against Yu Darvish.
