The Diamondbacks dropped the series opener to the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-9 at Chase Field. It was a rough night for Zac Gallen and the bullpen, who failed to shut down the Dodgers’ high-powered lineup. Despite a strong night from the offense, the pitching dug too deep a hole for them to climb out. Arizona is now five games out of first place for the National League West lead, which may be slipping out of their hands.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“I was proud of the way we fought,” said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. “When you’re down 10-5, the easy thing to do would be look towards tomorrow but this team is a hungry team. This team wants to go out and execute and win baseball games. They understand the importance of each pitch, each inning.”
Trailing 10-5 against left-hander Anthony Banda, the Diamondbacks fought until the final out. Joc Pederson had a left-on-left base hit and Josh Bell rolled a ball through the right side of the infield. Following a wild pitch, McCarthy took advantage with a ground ball single through the middle. Eugenio Suárez, who had hit into six outs in his first three at-bats, crushed his 21st home run of the season into the Diamondbacks bullpen to get within one run. However, that would be their final baserunner of the night, as Banda retired the next two hitters on weak fly balls.
The one decision of the night that Lovullo will likely regret was bringing in Paul Sewald in a high-leverage situation in the seventh over Ke Ginkel. Sewald inherited a two-on, one-out jam and got Kiké Hernandez to fly out to right for the second out. After getting back in the count against Will Smith with back-to-back sweepers, he left a fastball just below the belt and it got hammered for a three-run homer. Sewald also served a home run to Shohei Ohtani for a key insurance run, becoming the first player to hit 43 homers and steal 43 bases in MLB history.
“I can’t run away from everybody and I want to give Paul a chance to get some rhythm, go in there, and find his way,” said Lovullo in the postgame breakdown on DbacksTV.
Lovullo has been adamant the past month that the best version of their bullpen has Sewald in the very back, but he may have to adjust to the new reality. Since the calendar flipped to July, the former closer has been scored upon in nine of 21 appearances. Opposing batters are hitting .329 with five home runs and a 1.018 OPS. Despite the recent track record, Lovullo believes that Sewald is getting better. Due to the unavailability of Justin Martinez and Ryan Thompson, there were too few other options to turn to.
It was a frustrating night because the hitters showed up for the game. They pounded out 13 hits and drew four walks, putting consistent pressure on Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers’ bullpen. They erased deficits of 2-0 and 5-2 to tie the game, but the bullpen was unable to deliver enough shutdown innings to give the offense a chance at some late heroics.
It didn’t help that the Diamondbacks made a series of mistakes earlier in the game. Bad baserunning by Josh Bell ended the first inning when they had Clayton Kershaw on the ropes. Joe Mantiply uncorked a two-strike wild pitch to give the Dodgers the lead before striking out Shohei Ohtani. Those were two key plays that when added at the end of the game, spelled defeat for Arizona.
Despite falling behind 2-0 in the first, they battled back with two in the bottom half. Bell came up and dropped a base hit to right center to put the Diamondbacks on the board. Jake McCarthy was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Suárez, who hit a weak fly ball to left that Teoscar Hernández made a sliding catch on. Bell, who ran with his head down and rounded past second base, was ruled out there when he failed to tag, but the run still counted.
In the second inning, Kershaw grooved a 67 MPH curveball that split the middle of the strike zone to Corbin Carroll. Carroll launched his third home run in nine at-bats against the future Hall of Fame left-hander to make it a 5-3 game. That wound up being Kershaw’s final pitch of the night, as he left the game with trainers immediately after the play’s conclusion with pain in his left big toe.
427 feet off the bat of Corbin Carroll for homer No. 18. pic.twitter.com/BeSr7NpZ6O
— MLB (@MLB) August 31, 2024
In the third, they evened up the score against Joe Kelly. Battling the hard-throwing but erratic right-hander, Josh Bell opened up the inning with a single and advanced to second on a hit-by-pitch. Suárez smoked a ball right at Max Muncy for a double play, putting the Dodgers within one pitch of getting out of the inning. Instead Kelly committed a third disengagement, then served up a game-tying single to José Herrera.
Gallen got touched up early, surrendering a crooked number in each of the first two innings. Freddie Freeman launched a two-run home run in the first inning and the Dodgers got three in the second to take a 5-2 lead. However, Gallen settled down in the third and retired the last eight hitters with five strikeouts. Unfortunately, once he found his command, the pitch count got too high for him to pitch further in the game. He needed 100 pitches to get through five innings.
Next Game
The Diamondbacks will try to even up the series against the Dodgers. They’ll send right-hander Merrill Kelly (4-0, 3.98 ERA) while Los Angeles will go with right-hander Gavin Stone (11-5, 3.33 ERA). First pitch at Chase Field will be at 5:10 P.M. MST on Saturday.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
