D-backs 5, Dodgers 4: Walked off after pen coughs up 5 runs following season-highs for Shohei Ohtani

Chad Moriyama 09/23/2025 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

Well, they did it again.

After jumping out to a 4-0 lead, the Dodgers pen gave up five runs in 2.2 innings after Shohei Ohtani set a season high in innings and pitches on the mound in a 5-4 walk-off loss to the Diamondbacks.

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The bats started a bit slow today, though Teoscar Hernandez did start the scoring with his 25th homer of the year to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead in the 2nd.

But other than that, all they got was two singles through five innings. Thankfully, Teoscar came up again in the 6th, this time following walks from Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, and he drilled a triple to right-center with two down to plate them both and make it 3-0.

That lead was extended in the 7th when Ben Rortvedt hit his first dong of the year to make it 4-0.

What a run.

Again though, they couldn’t tack on in the 8th and 9th, which is always big with this pen.

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All those zeroes? Well, Shohei was dominant on the mound yet again.

He started with an 11-pitch 1st that included a strikeout, then struck out two more in the 2nd, and struck out the side in the 3rd to work around a lead-off single that hit him to give everybody a brief scare.

He continued to shake that off in the 4th, as a pair of strikeouts helped him navigate around another lead-off single, and he faced the minimum in the 5th after a one-out single was erased by a double play he started.

Unlike last time, Ohtani was allowed to continue in the 6th, and he did start to look labored. He gave up a one-out single and a two-out single to put him in some danger, but was able to get through six shutout to set new season highs in innings and pitches: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, 91 Pitches.

Unfortunately, Ohtani could only get six innings and it was the pen in the 7th, where literally nothing is working.

When you're exhausted but you're not letting the pen blow it for at least one more inning.

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— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) September 23, 2025 at 5:19 PM

This time it was Jack Dreyer starting things, and he got two outs while only giving up a single. However, he then gave up a James McCann double to score a run and make it 4-1.

Dave Roberts came out to get him and brought in Edgardo Henriquez, who promptly gave up a two-run dinger to Adrian Del Castillo to make it 4-3 before getting the final out of the frame.

I dunno, man.

Next up in the 8th was Alex Vesia, who started with an out but then gave up back-to-back walks. But on a double steal attempt, it was Rortvedt who again came up with a big play by getting the trail runner for the second out.

Vesia responded with a strikeout to end that threat.

And so, the 9th belonged to Tanner Scott, which was more trouble as he couldn’t throw strikes. He hit the first batter he faced on a 2-2 count that he really didn’t throw a ball in the zone on, then walked the next on four pitches to put a pair on. After a successful sac bunt put the tying and winning runs in scoring position, Scott got ahead of a pinch-hitter 0-2, but then gave up a deep flyball to tie the game.

Almost mercifully, the game was ended when Geraldo Perdomo walked it off with a single.

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NL Playoff SeedingRecordGB
Brewers95-63–
Phillies92-652.5
Dodgers88-697.5
NL WestRecordGB
Dodgers88-69–
Padres87-711.5

The series continues tomorrow at 3:40 PM HT/6:40 PM PT/9:40 PM ET on SNLA. It’ll be Blake Snell looking to continue the starting run of excellence against Ryne Nelson.

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