The Diamondbacks dropped their second consecutive game to the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-6 at Chase Field in front of a packed house of 50,041 fans. Merrill Kelly was rocked early and the bullpen surrendered two runs in the ninth for the difference in the game. A National League West title is looking very unlikely for Arizona, who will now have to regroup and try to land the top Wild Card spot instead.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“A little bit of a grinding loss,” said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo on the postgame breakdown on DbacksTV. “You fight so hard to get back into the game after a couple of early runs. There was a lot of excitement in this building and I felt the energy, the fans were engaged. There were a lot of fireworks in the first two innings. You come out of that, you get back on the field, you just hold serve and keep moving forward. I felt like we did enough to stay in this game, we had some competitive at-bats, we just couldn’t scratch across that run with a big hit or a big baserunner in the typical fashion we had in the past several game.”
Kelly got off to a rocky start for the Diamondbacks, surrendering home runs to the first three batters of the game to fall behind 3-0. It marked the first time in Dodgers franchise history that they had three consecutive home runs to start a baseball game. However, he recovered to retire the next three hitters to finish the first and give the hitters a chance to answer.
The Diamondbacks wasted no time to answer the Dodgers in the first off right-hander Gavin Stone. Corbin Carroll led off the game with a fly ball that barely eluded the grasp of Kevin Kiermaier, circling the bases for an inside-the-park home run. Carroll’s home-to-home time clocked in at 14.3 seconds, tying Bobby Witt Jr. for the fifth-fastest in the Statcast Era. Arizona took the lead on a two-run double from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and a sacrifice fly from Eugenio Suárez.
The Dodgers had the first three batters of the second, on two singles and his own throwing error on a bunt play, putting the veteran right-hander on the ropes early. He got Shohei Ohtani on a sacrifice fly and struck out Mookie Betts, putting himself in position to get out of the inning. But he left a 92 MPH cutter over the heart of the plate and Freddie Freeman smoked it up the middle to put the Dodgers ahead 5-4.
Trailing 5-4, Gurriel tied the game on a solo home run in the third. It was their only hit after the first inning.
The Dodgers took the lead off Kelly in the fifth. With two outs in the inning, Gavin Lux doubled in the right field corner then Max Muncy singled to right to drive him in as Carroll’s throw went up the third base line. Kelly finished with six runs allowed in 5 1/3 innings, allowing 10 hits, walking one, and striking out one.
“He did enough to keep us in the game, that’s what we ask our guys to do,” said Lovullo. “Was it a typical Merrill outing? No, it wasn’t. I think there were some yanked cut-fastballs, the changeup wasn’t the typical swing-and-miss or weak contact pitch that he normally has. The first couple of innings were wobbly but the next 3 1/3 innings were efficient.”
Between him and Zac Gallen, the two pitchers have combined to allow 11 runs in 10 1/3 innings, putting the Diamondbacks behind the eight ball on the pitching side even though the offense bailed them both out. Getting those two right in the final month of the season will be critical, as they will determine the team’s postseason fate as much as anyone else on the Diamondbacks.
Arizona manufactured a run in the seventh without the benefit of a base hit. Luis Guillorme led off the inning with a walk, advanced to second on a Geraldo Perdomo sacrifice bunt, then moved up to third on a wild pitch. Carroll took advantage, chasing Betts to the track to tie the game. That took Kelly off the hook for a loss.
From that point, the Diamondbacks bullpen did its best job to keep the Dodgers off the scoreboard despite constant traffic. Following a shaky outing from Kevin Ginkel, A.J. Puk came to close out the seventh. Ryan Thompson picked up Puk in the eighth. However, the bullpen eventually cracked in the ninth. Justin Martinez came in a tough situation, with runners at second and third and one out. Miguel Rojas hit a liner that Luis Guillorme made a leaping catch to snare. However, that would be a temporary reprieve as Tommy Edman blooped a two-strike splitter to plate both runners.
“I felt like if we got back in the dugout in the bottom of the ninth inning that we were going to have a good chance to score a run, unfortunately it didn’t happen,” said Lovullo.
The Diamondbacks went quietly in the ninth, as they were unable to do much against the Dodgers bullpen.
Next Game
The Diamondbacks will try to take the third game of the series to try to salvage a series split. Arizona will send right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (8-7, 4.31 ERA) while Los Angeles will go with left-hander Justin Wrobleski (1-1, 4.68 ERA). First pitch at Chase Field will be at 1:10 P.M. MST on Sunday.
The game will be streamed on Roku TV. MLB.tv subscribers should have no issue viewing the game, but those who watch DbacksTV on cable or an alternative streaming package may have difficulty finding it.
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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
