D-backs 4, Dodgers 3: NOT THE BEES

Chad Moriyama 04/30/2024 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

“Who the hell is that in the lead picture?”

Why that’s Matt Hilton of Blue Sky Pest Control.

“Okay, but why is he on a baseball site?”

Right, well there was a swarm of bees that congregated above home plate at Chase Field, which led to a delay of almost two hours!

And well, he was called in.

“Did he handle the problem?”

Did he ever. Set to a soundtrack of Bonnie Tyler‘s “Holding Out For A Hero” and chants of “M-V-P” from the crowd, he took care of the problem in fashion.

A highlight of the game no mattered what followed up, as he was welcomed back to throw out the first pitch as well.

He then held a press conference after.

Deserved, honestly.

——

Oh right, that baseball game. Well, due to the delay the Diamondbacks ended up changing their starter from Jordan Montgomery to Brandon Hughes in what was basically a pen game, though the Dodgers stuck with Landon Knack.

As for the game itself, it ended up going to extras, and quite frankly the Dodgers didn’t deserve to win with the way they played. That said it still sucked to get walked off by the Diamondbacks in a 4-3 loss.

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One thing Landon Knack has done for the Dodgers is give them a chance to win, and that’s really all you can ask for from an emergency call-up to the rotation. He managed to that again today again, though he had to work through trouble throughout.

Things started off smooth with a seven-pitch 1st inning, but he had to work around a single and a HBP with one out in the 2nd, then a walk and steal with one out in the 3rd. The 4th started off with a bang, as Christian Walker hammered a homer for the game’s first run to make it 1-0 to the Diamondbacks.

Even after that, Knack had to work around a one-out double, but followed with a tidy 5th frame.

——

All of that bought enough time for the offense of the Dodgers to … sorta do something. Facing a pen game, they struggled pretty heavily for the most part, but still managed to scratch across some runs.

After a Shohei Ohtani single in the 1st, nine batters in a row were sent down before Freddie Freeman‘s one-out double in the 4th. However, the Dodgers couldn’t capitalize on that chance, managing just a walk the rest of the frame.

The 5th was a turning point of sorts, as Max Muncy walked to start, Andy Pages singled, and after a failed Miguel Rojas sacrifice bunt (small ball fans forget about this possibility), Mookie Betts walked to load things up. And the Dodgers did eventually score, though not through their own actions, but rather a wild pitch that tied the game at 1-1.

Yet the Dodgers wasted second and third with one out, as both Ohtani and Freddie couldn’t come through.

It was much the same story in the 6th, as Will Smith started a rally with a double, and later Enrique Hernandez singled with one out to corner the runners, but it was a balk that brought Smith home for a 2-1 lead. Though again the Dodgers weren’t able to come up with a hit or anything to push further damage across.

At this point, Knack was still in the game with a low pitch count, and he came back out for the 6th. However, after allowing a lead-off single he was relieved by Michael Grove, presumably due to a combination of the long delay, his inexperience, and being the third time through the order.

Doing his job: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 64 Pitches.

Grove managed to keep that one run allowed at just one, though barely. After entering and notching back-to-back strikeouts, he gave up a single and issued a walk to load the bases before barely beating Corbin Carroll to the bag to end the 6th.

The 7th then belonged to Joe Kelly, who allowed an infield single to start and had a sacrifice bunt move the runner into scoring position. However, he got a groundout and a strikeout to move things along. Daniel Hudson then entered as the setup man in the 8th, continuing to add excitement due to a one-out double, eventually going away one too many times and allowing a two-out single to Gabriel Moreno to tie the game up at 2-2.

Carroll followed Moreno by pummeling a ball down the line for a double, but for whatever reason Moreno wasn’t running all out, and it cost the D-backs the lead when the next batter grounded out.

Thanks?

Unfortunately, while all this was going on the offense wasn’t doing much, as they went down in order in the 7th, had a walk erased by a double play in the 8th, and only managed a HBP in the 9th.

That left things up to Nabil Crismatt for the Dodgers, and he got the side in order on just 12 pitches. So that sent things to extra innings … even after a bee delay. Hey, living in Hawaii has its perks.

The 10th started well for the Dodgers, as Betts walked on five pitches and Ohtani got into a 3-1 count, but he then rolled over a ball for a groundout that left the runners cornered. Freddie followed with a four-pitch walk, which loaded the bases, and Will came through with a sacrifice fly to push the Dodgers in front 3-2.

Unfortunately, things ended quickly after that, and not in a good way. Crismatt continued on and Christian stepped up as the first batter, promptly homering to left for a 4-3 walk-off.

Yeah.

——

Are we sure Walker didn’t get stung by the bees?

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19-13 on the year.

The finale of the series and the road trip is at the same time tomorrow of 3:40 PM HT/6:40 PM PT/9:40 PM ET with Yoshinobu Yamamoto facing today’s scratched starter Jordan Montgomery in a marquee pitching matchup. Well, assuming there’s no more bees at least.

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