Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
This game was just an absolute mess, so of course I got the recap. The Dodgers blew a 3-0 lead to the Diamondbacks in the seventh inning by giving up seven runs, and then they immediately came back over the top with five runs in the same frame to retake the lead. Eventually the final score of 9-7 was posted and everybody could breathe again.
Thankfully for everybody’s entertainment, I also managed to humiliate myself by the end of the night.
Anyway, look at this win probability chart. LOOK AT IT.
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/759266479720243200
Anyway, Kenta Maeda has basically alternated quality and mediocre games over his last seven starts, so thankfully he broke that streak tonight. Maeda gave up two runs in 6.1 innings on 93 pitches. He did so by not walking a batter, giving up only four hits, and striking out five.
Of course, only one of those runs were given up by him, and the damage all came in the seventh inning. The inning started with a single on a hard-hit ball that cuffed Corey Seager, so not a routine play but a play one has to be expected to make. After a fly out to right field, Maeda surrendered a double to drive in a run.
That was it for Maeda, and he was relieved by Adam Liberatore who prompted started and ended his night with a walk that put runners on first and second with one down.
Joe Blanton then entered to try to put out the fire, but a blooper to left somehow fell in front of Howie Kendrick to load the bases.
Speaking of Kendrick, he had an adventurous day in the outfield. He made a solid play chasing a ball down in left, though the dive was sorta unnecessary, and then he made a sterling play to rob a double.
Kendrick also did … whatever this was.
Back to the disaster inning, a slider off the end of the bat was then blooped for a single to right to drive in a second run, and Blanton then walked a run in to tie the game at three. Blanton finally got a man out by notching a strikeout for two outs, and that was the end of his night as Luis Avilan entered.
Avilan gave up an infield single that he made a great play on, but had nowhere to get the out after Adrian Gonzalez went for the ball instead of covering the bag, and the D-Backs had their fourth run. That was the end of Avilan’s night as Pedro Baez entered the game to face Paul Goldschmidt.
Baez got ahead of Goldschmidt with two fastballs at 98 mph and 99 mph, but he left an 0-2 fastball literally as down the middle as possible, and Goldschmidt whacked it down the left-field line to clear the bases and put the D-Backs total at seven. Baez then got a fly out to right to end the nightmare, but the damage seemed done.
Joc was so excited by what was to come that he was shaking.
Honestly though, the offense didn’t do that great against Zack Godley, managing just four hits and two walks in six innings off him. Fortunately, they did seem to time those baserunners well, since they managed to get three runs.
In the second inning, the Dodgers got on the board with two runs. Gonzalez led the frame off with a single, and Andrew Toles walked after two outs were made to put runners on first and second. Joc Pederson then capitalized on the scoring chance by driving a double to left field to score both A-Gon and Toles.
The Dodgers added a run in the fourth, albeit in a less than typical way. Howie led the inning off with a walk, then advanced to second and then third after two wild pitches. With one down, Toles then doubled down the right-field line past a drawn-in infield to drive in Kendrick for the third run.
So that was decently timely, but the Dodgers were still down 7-3 after 6 1/2 innings. Fortunately then, they had a massive rally of their own in the seventh off the D-Backs relief corps. Toles started things off with a single to right, and Joc proceeded to get two runs back immediately by bombing a ball to right-center field.
Scott Van Slyke followed with a walk, and a lefty reliever was brought in to face the struggling Chase Utley.
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/759248725755699204
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/759249506542190593
So yeah, that happened and the game was tied, 7-7. Fortunately, the Dodgers weren’t done, as Seager doubled to right center, and after A-Gon was issued an international walk with one out, Yasmani Grandal singled to center with two down to drive in Seager and put the Dodgers up 8-7. The Dodgers then got an insurance run in the eighth, as with two outs Utley walked and Seager doubled to score him to push the lead to the final score of 9-7.
In total, the Dodgers managed nine runs on five walks and 10 hits, including four doubles and two dongs, which more than anything shows how much of a disaster area the D-Backs bullpen was tonight.
Also, this happened:
First AJ Ellis, now Yasmani Grandal. Grandal's first stolen base since Sept. 9, 2014.
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) July 30, 2016
Of course, it was only the final score because the bullpen held the fort for the final two innings. Louis Coleman gave up a bloop single to start the eighth, but then induced a double play. Kenley Jansen was immediately called upon for the four-out save, and that he did, as he was perfect to end the game and notch his 31st save.
You know pitcher wins are valuable because Pedro Baez got the win for giving up a bases loaded double to Paul Goldschmidt. All in the plan.
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With the win, the Dodgers are 58-45 overall and a sterling 32-19 at home. Better yet, they are now 1 game behind the Giants in the NL West after they fell to the Nationals today, thanks partially to this ridiculous triple play.
that triple play the nats turned on the giants pic.twitter.com/fvsTzVe8F5
— nick (@nick_pants) July 30, 2016
If you care, the Cardinals (won) remain two back of the Dodgers for home-field advantage in the NL Wild Card chase, and the Marlins (loss) are now three back in the race to make the game.
The Dodgers play the Diamondbacks again tomorrow night at 3:10 PM HST/6:10 PM PST/9:10 PM EST, with the pitching matchup being Scott Kazmir (4.35 ERA/4.30 FIP/4.42 DRA) against Braden Shipley (10.12 ERA/11.22 FIP/4.80 DRA), who is making his second career start.
