The Diamondbacks dropped the series finale to the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-6 at Chase Field. With the loss, they completed a 2-5 homestand against the Mets and Dodgers, effectively taking themselves out of the National League West race and putting some doubt on their ability to make it as a Wild Card team.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!It was a rough day for Eduardo RodrÃguez, who did not have his usual strong command. He labored through a 27-pitch first, which set the tone for the day. He had to throw 25 or more pitches in three of his four innings on the day, leading to a short night on the mound. All the damage against him came in the third. Chris Taylor doubled then scored on a Mookie Betts RBI single, followed by a two-run home run from Freddie Freeman in the Diamondbacks bullpen.
“I thought Eddie just gutted through four innings and 92 pitches,” said Lovullo. “It wasn’t an easy outing for him, he fought to stay in the game. With all things considered about his journey to get back here, it didn’t make to run him out for 105-110 pitches.”
For much of the series, Arizona’s rotation has done very little to slow down the Dodgers lineup. Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, and RodrÃguez combined for just 14 1/3 innings and allowed 14 runs. The performance of those three starters will make or break the team’s chances down the stretch and into the postseason.
Down early, the Diamondbacks had trouble building innings against Jack Flaherty. Their best scoring chance came in the third. Eugenio Suárez doubled and Luis Guillorme walked, with a sacrifice bunt moving both into scoring position. Corbin Carroll drove in the first run with a groundout, but that’s all they got.
They had another scoring chance in the sixth. Jake McCarthy singled but was thrown out at second on a stolen base attempt on a 3-0 pitch. That ended up being a huge play in the game, as Josh Bell and Pavin Smith drew back-to-back walks to chase Flaherty from the game. Dave Roberts brought in Alex Vesia to face Adrian Del Castillo. While Del Castillo was 5-for-11 vs. left-handed pitching, the Diamondbacks had Randal Grichuk available off the bench. Lovullo chose to keep Grichuk on the bench and the Diamondbacks came empty for the inning.
That ended up being a big momentum swing to the Dodgers, who ran wild on the bases to score three runs in the seventh. Jordan Montgomery had to leave the game after getting struck in the right shin by a Teoscar Hernández single. Coming into the game, Slade Cecconi allowed both inherited runners to score on a Will Smith single to put Arizona behind by five.
The Diamondbacks finally put some offense together in the seventh. Suárez and Guillorme started another inning with back-to-back singles. Another productive out by Perdomo drove in the first run of the inning. Carroll singled up the middle to extend his hitting streak to 12 and on-base streak to 41 straight starts, setting up Jake McCarthy to drive in the second run on a chopper to second. A defensive miscue by pitcher Anthony Banda on an infield single brought up the tying run to the plate, but Bell’s hard ground ball was hit at shortstop Miguel Rojas for the final out of the frame.
But for as close as they got, the Dodgers beat up Cecconi in the eighth. After retiring the first two hitters of the inning, seven straight reached to put up five runs on the board. Freddie Freeman crushed his second home run of the inning to turn the game into a rout. Paul Sewald had to get the final four outs of the game, a sacrifice that Lovullo made sure to point out.
“I watched Paul Sewald make the ultimate sacrifice for his teammates. He’s thrown four innings in three days, he hasn’t done that a lot. In the way that he over two of those, we upped-downed him. That’s sacrifice.”
Next Game
The next team they’ll play will be the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Right-hander Ryne Nelson (8-6, 4.25 ERA) goes for the Diamondbacks while the Giants have yet to announce a starter. First pitch at Oracle Park will be at 6:45 P.M. MST.
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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
