Dodgers’ Late Rally Comes Up Short, Lose to D-Backs

”When the pitching is on the bats are cold and when the bats are on the pitching can’t hold.”

That pretty much sums up the first 12 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers (4-8) so far this season as they took on their division rival Arizona Diamondbacks (10-3) in the first of three games at Dodger Stadium.  Kenta Maeda took the mound for the Dodgers looking to repeat his strong first outing when he went 6.0 shut out innings with 12 strikeouts.  He would face former Dodger, Zack Greinke, who has not been himself this season with an 0-1 record, 5.06 ERA and 1.313 WHIP through two games.

1st Inning

Maeda looked off from the start of the game, issuing a lead off walk to David Peralta followed by a single to Ketel Marte, who now has an 8-game hitting streak.  Two batters later he would surrender a single to Daniel Descalso to put the Dodgers in an early hole, 1-0.  Fortunately, he would get Chris Owings to ground into a double play to end the inning.

In the bottom half of the frame, the Dodgers would answer with a lead off solo home run by center fielder, Chris Taylor, to tie the game at one run apiece.  It would be Taylor’s 6th time leading off a game with a home run in his career.

3rd Inning

In the third, Maeda would unravel – beginning with another lead off walk, this time to opposing pitcher, Zack Greinke.  Peralta would come to the plate next and single up the middle.  Next up would be Marte who would hit a ground ball back to Maeda who threw to second base hoping to turn a double play.  Instead, he would throw wide to Seager, who was unable to keep his foot on the bag, allowing all three runners to be safe and still no outs recorded.  Maeda would get Paul Goldschmidt to strike out with the bases loaded and give himself a chance to get out of the inning with Descalso at the dish; however, what happened next wasn’t just unusual for Maeda, it is unusual for any pitcher.  Whether it was just an off night for Maeda or whether “Friday the 13th” superstitions really are true, we will never know. Maeda, who only had 4 wild pitches all of last year, would throw a wild pitch that would score Greinke followed by another wild pitch (later ruled a passed ball) to score Peralta and put the D-backs on top 3-1.  Descalso would then hit a sac-fly to score Marte to make it 4-1, allowing three runs to score without even reaching base.  Chris Owings and Jarrod Dyson would hit back-to-back doubles, to make it 5-1 and end the night for Maeda who lasted only 2.2 innings.

6th Inning

Greinke would settle in for the next 3.2 innings until he faced Cody Bellinger with two-outs in the 6th.  On an 0-1 count, Bellinger drilled an “off-balanced” solo home run to right field to cut the deficit down to 5-2.

7th Inning

Just as the game began to feel within reach, Tony Cingrani would come in relief and strike out the first two batters he faced.  Goldschmidt would come to the plate next and hit a soft ground ball that was headed between first and second base.  Though it would have been an easier play for Kiké Hernandez, Bellinger fielded it instead and tried to make a great throw but, unfortunately, overthrew Cingrani at first allowing Goldschmidt to reach.  That would bring up Descalso (who else?) who would hit a two-run bomb and put the D-backs up 7-2.  He would finish the night 2-4 with a run scored and 4 RBI’s.

The Dodgers were not about to lie down though and, going into the bottom of the 7th, got a rally started that began with a lead off walk to Yasiel Puig.  Up next was Logan Forsythe who hit a double down the left field line.  Hernandez and Barnes would both ground out that would allow for the two-out rally.  Taylor was up next and would hit a ball just softly enough that he would reach first safely and score Puig.  Corey Seager and Matt Kemp would each hit ground balls up the middle and bring the Dodgers within two runs, 7-5.

8th Inning

And, yet again, just when the Dodgers were gaining momentum, the Diamondbacks answered.  JT Chargois took the mound in the 8th but would surrender a one-out solo home run to Nick Ahmed making it 8-5.

But the Dodgers still weren’t finished!  They began the bottom of the 8th with a lead off single by Yasmani Grandal, a walk to Puig and a one-out walk to Joc Pederson to load the bases.  Chase “The Silver Fox” Utley would pinch-hit and hit a ground ball up the middle that would ricochet off the bag at second base, scoring Grandal and Puig to put the Dodgers within one-run at 8-7.  It seemed “Friday the 13th” wasn’t playing favorites tonight.

Unfortunately, there would be no “Hollywood ending” as Taylor would hit into a double play in the 8th to end the inning and they would fail to score in the 9th with 8-7 being the final score.  Though an insignificant statistic since it dates back to the end of last season, the Diamondbacks have now beaten the Dodgers in 10-consecutive regular season games.  Despite coming up short tonight, the Dodgers have now put up 17 runs in the last three games showing some life to their previously lackluster offense.  They will look to get back on track tomorrow night in the second game of the series starting at 6:10pm PST.

BakoBoyInBlue