The Diamondbacks were in excellent shape to take the series opener against the Dodgers. Holding onto a 5-4 lead, closer Paul Sewald struck out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani to start the inning. However, he could not get the final out as the Dodgers collected two doubles and a single to walk off the Diamondbacks 6-5 at Dodger Stadium.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!While there were a lot of positives to take away from the game, the result will be tough for the team to swallow knowing they outplayed the Dodgers for eight and a half innings and still lost. It marked the first time Arizona lost a game when Sewald inherited a ninth-inning lead, winning their first 17 games in that situation this season. It was also the first loss of the season when Christian Walker recorded multiple RBI in a game.
What made that blown save and loss even worse was Joc Pederson had just given the Diamondbacks the lead in the top half of the inning. Facing Dodgers closer Evan Phillips, he turned on a cutter on the inner third of the plate and launched a fly ball that stayed inside the right field pole.
Electing to go with an opener, the Diamondbacks sent out Joe Mantiply to face the big left-handed bats at the top of the Dodgers order. Shohei Ohtani led off the game with a slicing liner that Lourdes Gurriel Jr. couldn’t quite glove in left field. After two shallow fly ball outs, Mantiply handed the ball to Ryne Nelson. Nelson gave up a double that landed on the right field line to put the Dodgers on the board.
From that point, Nelson was able to settle in and contain the Dodgers lineup. Nelson allowed six hits but limited the damage to one run over five innings, striking out three. In two bulk relief appearances, he’s allowed just one run in 10 innings at Dodger Stadium. Nelson walked the final batter of his outing, putting two runners on. Lovullo turned to Justin Martinez, who induced a ground ball out to finish the sixth.
With the game now settled, the Diamondbacks went to work against Bobby Miller. After struggling against the right-hander for the first three innings, they got to him in the fourth. Joc Pederson singled through the right side of the infield to bring up Walker. Miller left a slider in the middle of the plate and Walker crushed a ball to center.
Christian Walker launches his 15th home run in Dodger Stadium to tie the game. #Dbacks 2, #Dodgers 2 in the 4th. pic.twitter.com/yqsafLuZsZ
— Burn City D-backs Talk????️ (@BurnCityDbacks) July 3, 2024
The home run marked Walker’s 15th career long ball in his 40th game at Dodger Stadium. As the inning continued, the Diamondbacks loaded the bases with a pair of singles and a walk. Alek Thomas struck out on three pitches, Geraldo Perdomo popped out to shortstop, and Corbin Carroll grounded out to second.
Despite missing the opportunity, they rebounded to score in each of the final three innings. In the seventh, they got a couple ground balls past Miguel Rojas, with Ketel Marte’s hard grounder kicking off Rojas’ glove to score Geraldo Perdomo from second.
The lead would be short-lived. Martinez walked Lux to start the bottom of the seventh then fell behind Shohei Ohtani. He grooved a slider to the Dodgers slugger, who crushed a go-ahead two-run home run to right field to take a 4-3 lead. Martinez recovered to retire the next three hitters.
In the eighth, Gabriel Moreno drew a leadoff walk against Blake Treinen. Jake McCarthy bunted a ball back to the mound, but Treinen had issues fielding the ball then threw it into right field. Moreno scored on the play, with McCarthy taking second with no outs. Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks were unable to take advantage of this opportunity either.
Even with the missed opportunities to tack on runs, the Diamondbacks still had a lead going into the bottom of the ninth. Up to this point, Sewald had been close to automatic. He had been scoreless in each of his previous 17 outings and converted his first 11 save opportunities since coming off the injured list on May 7.
With one out to go, Sewald served up a double to Will Smith. Jumping ahead of Freddie Freeman 0-2, he left too good a pitch for the future Hall of Famer to handle and he split the right center gap to tie the game. Hernandez then ripped a single through the left side, with Gurriel’s throw offline to home plate to score the winning run.
The Diamondbacks will come back for the second game against the Dodgers. Los Angeles will send out right-hander Gavin Stone (9-2, 3.27 ERA), while Arizona has yet to name a starter although it’s likely to be pitching prospect Cristian Mena to make his major league debut. First pitch at Dodger Stadium will be at 7:10 P.M. MST.
*Get the BEST Phoenix sports insider information, exclusive content, and access to our seasonal magazines! SIGN UP HERE to unlock our premium content!*
Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
