Dodgers 10, D-backs 9: After early mess, Will Smith delivers a crucial blow and the pen holds on late

Chad Moriyama 08/30/2024 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

The pivotal NL West battle kicked off today in Arizona, and man things started off as messy as possible. There were 10 runs scored in the game’s first three innings, and unfortunately the Dodgers lost another starter to injury. Fortunately, it was the Dodgers who ended up pulling ahead, first on a wild pitch and then a Will Smith homer putting things to bed with a big blow late. The Diamondbacks made a disturbing late charge, but the Dodgers held on in a 10-9 victory.

That’s three wins in a row now.

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Man what a mess this game was at the outset.

Zac Gallen started for the D-backs and was greeted by Shohei Ohtani drilling the first pitch for a double down the line in right, Mookie Betts grounding a ball up the middle on the next pitch to move him over, and Freddie Freeman crushing an oppo shot on a 3-1 count for his 15th homer to make it 2-0 in a flash.

On the other side was Clayton Kershaw, and the last big game he pitched against the D-backs went about as poorly as possible, yet today was somehow arguably worse. He gave up a double, got a groundout, issued a walk, gave up a Josh Bell single for a run, then after hitting a batter to load the bases, he got saved by Teoscar Hernandez make a sliding catch for a double play that still resulted in another run on a sac fly. Tied at 2-2.

The offense came right back against Gallen with three singles in a row from Max Muncy, Tommy Edman, and Miguel Rojas to plate a run.

Ohtani then got hit by a pitch to load the bases (and stole his 43rd base), and the Dodgers manufactured a pair more behind a Betts sac fly and Freddie RBI groundout to make it 5-2.

That lasted all of two pitches, as Corbin Carroll started the 2nd with a homer off Kershaw to make it 5-3.

That was also the last pitch Kershaw threw, as he exited with a big toe injury shortly after.

Not great.

Joe Kelly entered in relief and did his Joe Kelly thing, making an absolute mess. He did start by giving up a single and hitting a batter, but managed to escape that frame at least. But after Gallen worked around a pair of one-out walks in the 3rd, Kelly came out in the other half of the 3rd and gave up a single and hit a batter.

He got a double play after that, which put him on the verge, but then walked a batter, balked in a run on a disengagement violation, issued a walk, and gave up a Jose Herrera single that tied the game up at 5-5.

Because Dave Roberts desperately wanted Kelly to get the final out despite it being pretty obvious he had nothing, the game was tied and Alex Vesia predictably had to come in anyway. Things could’ve been worse, as it took a Teoscar sliding catch to end the 3rd.

Things did settle in a bit after that, as Gallen got two clean frames in the 4th and 5th before exiting the game. Meanwhile, Vesia got a 1-2-3 inning in the 4th, and Ryan Brasier faced the minimum in the 5th after a lead-off bunt single was erased by a double play.

Thankfully, it was the Dodgers who got the next run, as Muncy started against the D-backs pen with a lead-off double in the 6th. He got to third with two outs, which proved important because he was able to score on a wild pitch for a 6-5 lead.

Surprisingly, it was Michael Kopech in the 6th, and he actually struggled a bit. He gave up a bloop single and walked a batter but was able to throw enough strikes to get a scoreless frame.

I assume the strategy there was to buy time for the offense to get insurance, and things worked out, as a walk and steal from Mookie started the 7th, then after an intentional walk to Teoscar and a steal by him to put two in scoring position, Will stepped up with two outs and delivered his biggest hit in a while, drilling a three-run shot (17th) to left to push the lead to 9-5.

In the next inning, Ohtani joined the 43-43 club (occupied by himself) by smashing a homer to make it 10-5 in the 8th.

Now with some padding, it was Daniel Hudson in the 7th, who rebounded from a disaster last time out, getting a clean frame. Blake Treinen was next, giving up a lead-off double but stranding it for a scoreless 8th.

Surprisingly, it was Anthony Banda for the third day in a row in the 9th, and he looked it. A pair of singles, a wild pitch, and a single plated a pair of runs to make it 10-7. He then gave up a homer to make it 10-9, but managed to hang on for dear life and get the final two outs.

Phew.

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NL WESTRECORD
Dodgers81-54
Diamondbacks76-59 (5 GB)
Padres77-60 (5 GB)

The second game of the four-game series will be about an hour earlier tomorrow at 2:10 PM HT/5:10 PM PT/8:10 PM ET. It’ll be Gavin Stone looking to continue his nice recent run and successful 2024 against Merrill Kelly.

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