Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers fell to 0-4 this year against the division rival Diamondbacks after a late rally came up short in an 8-7 loss. Kenta Maeda went from bad to worse in his disaster start, and while the bats awakened late, they came up just short of a needed comeback.
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Making his first start in around two weeks, Maeda labored through 65 pitches tonight, seemingly having command of none of his pitches.
Things started ominously, as he issued a walk and allowed two singles in the 1st to put the Dodgers in a hole. After cruising through the 2nd, he didn’t make it through the 3rd. Kenta started that frame with a walk, a sharp single, and then got a comebacker that could’ve been a double play … if he didn’t throw it wide and pull Corey Seager off the bag to load the bases. Two wild pitches and a sacrifice fly later, the bases were clear again but three runs were home.
The pain didn’t even stop there, however, as Maeda then surrendered back-to-back doubles to plate another run before being removed. All said and done, he provided just 2.2 innings while surrendering five runs (only two earned) on five hits and two walks against two strikeouts (both Paul Goldschmidt somehow).
The bullpen was given a tough task tonight, and the trio of Ross Stripling, Pedro Baez, and Josh Fields held things down early by throwing 3.1 innings of scoreless ball. They surrendered just a single hit and a single walk while they struck out seven batters. Unfortunately, Tony Cingrani and JT Chargois didn’t fare as well later, as both gave up homers in their inning of work, Cingrani’s being a two-run dong and Chargois’ being of the solo variety.
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On the opposite side, Zack Greinke had an adventurous 1st inning of his own, with Chris Taylor smoking a dong to left to start the game for the offense.
Then, while pitching to the next batter in Seager, he grimaced and bent over in pain.
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/984981190254903297
But Greinke was somehow able to stay in the game and have a relatively normal start.
After doing nothing since the 1st, the bats did something in the 6th when Cody Bellinger hit a shot to right.
Things continued to improve in the 7th, as the frame started with a Yasiel Puig walk and Logan Forsythe double. However, two quick outs were made without anything changing and the rally was close to dead. Thankfully, Taylor drove in a run with an infield single, and back-to-back singles up the middle from Seager and Matt Kemp plated two more and put runners on the corners. That brought up Bellinger with a glimmer of hope in the eyes of all the Dodgers fans, and all he did was hit a deep drive to center … that he just missed and was caught at the warning track.
The Dodgers continued to fight back in the 8th, though, loading the bases with one out thanks to a Yasmani Grandal single and walks from Puig and Joc Pederson. That brought up Chase Utley, who got buried in an 0-2 count and then seemingly grounded into a double play up the middle, except the ball hit the bag and ricocheted into left field for a two-run single.
That put runners on the corners with one out and a rally still going, but CT3 promptly killed that by grounding into a double play. Sigh.
Following all that back-and-forth mess, the Dodgers trailed by one heading into the 9th, and Kenley Jansen came on. While he allowed a single, he also notched his fourth consecutive scoreless outing and appeared to sit between 91-93 mph with the cutter.
Unlike in the previous few innings, the offense for the Blue couldn’t get much going in the 9th and that was that.
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So … that was depressing. At least there’s this?
https://twitter.com/ChadMoriyama/status/984986146525495296
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With the loss, the Dodgers drop to a miserable 4-8 overall and 3-4 at home. I mean, things will get better, but … this is not ideal.
Tomorrow the Dodgers look to even the series against the Diamondbacks and also not look like absolute ass at 3:10 PM HST/6:10 PM PST/9:10 PM EST. Rich Hill will take the mound for the Dodgers, facing off against Taijuan Walker.
