Roger Arrieta
PHOENIX—Another multiple-run, extra-inning win. Another comeback win. Another win over Arizona. Another wild night in the desert. The Dodgers overcame a shaky outing from ace Clayton Kershaw, rallied from a 3-2 deficit and beat Arizona 6-4 in 10 innings. Los Angeles used home runs from Kiké Hernández and Mookie Betts and a clutch single from Chris Taylor in the 10th inning to beat the Diamondbacks for the seventh straight time and move their overall record to a league-leading 32-12. LA is now 5-1 in extra-inning games in 2020.
Arizona continues their free fall and has lost 18 of their past 20 games. They are an NL West-worse 15-29 on the season.
GAME RECAP: Betts gave the Dodgers a solid start when he clouted the second pitch of the game over the left field fence. The 416-foot shot was his longest of the year – and team-leading 14th of the season. Hernández doubled the lead when he cranked out a solo bomb of his own in the second. It was only two feet shy of Betts’ blast and Hernández, a Puerto Rican native, paid tribute to fellow countryman Roberto Clemente as he crossed home plate as MLB celebrated the life of the Pittsburgh Pirate great with Roberto Clemente Day.
Kershaw would then, uncharacteristically, lose control of his fastball and give up three runs to the D-Backs in the bottom of the second. He allowed the three runs on three hits but the first two came from a bunt single and then a slow roller up the third base line that hit the bag and bounced away from Max Muncy at third base. The only hard hit he gave up came off the bat of former Dodger Tim Locastro who tripled to center field. Kershaw needed 28 pitches to complete the second which is the most he has thrown in a single inning all season long.
Los Angeles retook the lead with two runs in the fourth before Arizona tied the game for the last time with a single run in the fifth. The Dodgers’ two scores in the fourth came when Muncy and A.J. Pollock singles to lead off the inning and then Will Smith walked to load the bases. Gavin Lux drove home the game-tying run on a fielder’s choice ground out to shortstop and then Hernández singled to left to stake LA to a 4-3 lead.
The offenses for both teams then took a break until extra innings. The teams combined for only three hits and didn’t push a runner past second base in the final four frames of regulation.
The Dodgers won the game with another multiple-run inning in extra innings. Corey Seager was the runner placed at second to start the 10th. He moved up to third on a wild pitch and then scored when Taylor jumped on a 3-0 fastball and lined it into center field. Taylor would come around to score the much-valued insurance run when he advanced to second after Muncy walked and then sprinted home on Pollock’s 1-out single to center.
Blake Treinen reprised his old Oakland A’s role and came on to get the save in the bottom of the 10th inning. He mowed down the D-Backs in order to record his first save as a Dodgers and the 72nd save of his career.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
COMEBACK KIDS: The win was the Dodgers 15th comeback win of the year which is tops in MLB. To put that into perspective – the D-Backs have 15 total wins all year.
OWNING ARIZONA: The Dodgers are now 8-1 against the D-Backs this season and 5-1 at Chase Field. LA owns a 19-9 record vs. Arizona in the past two years combined.
AND YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD: The win on Wednesday also gives the Dodgers another series victory. LA is now 11-1-3 in series this season and finished off a sweep of the three series with the D-Backs this year.
WINNING WESTERN WAYS: The Dodgers, who are looking to win their eighth straight NL West title, are 22-10 (.688) vs. the NL West this season and sown a 335-230 (.593) mark vs. the division since 2013.
OBSCURE STATS OF THE NIGHT: Los Angeles has now outscored their opponents 14-9 in extra innings this year. They have played 10 innings after the ninth in their six extra-inning games and have scored more than one run in four of those innings.
UNCOMMON KERSHAW: Kershaw retired the first four batters he faced in the game with little problem but then gave up three runs on three hits. He was able to grind through a total 5.0 innings and allowed three earned runs, four hits and two walks while only striking out three. It was second shortest outing of the season and tied for the most runs he has allowed in 2020. The three earned runs pushed his season ERA to 1.98 and he now owns a 0.780 WHIP.
HE SAID IT: “Not great. My fastball command was really bad tonight. And really, the slider wasn’t that good either. I wasn’t getting many swing and misses. A lot of foul balls. It all starts with commanding my fastball better.”—Kershaw frankly assessing his outing on Wednesday.
HE SAID IT 2: “He’s his harshest critic. I’ll tell you one thing – it’s not the outing we would have liked but there was only one ball hit hard.”—Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts on Kershaw’s outing
SEE YA JOC: Betts’ leadoff home run in Game 2 of the series was his second leadoff jack of the year and 22nd of his career. That moves him past teammate Joc Pederson and into seventh place for leadoff homers among active players.
BETTS’ BATTING STREAK: The leadoff home run also upped Betts’ hit streak to 10 games which is a season high. The longest hit streak of his career is 18 games which came last season. Betts is now hitting .307 and has a slash line of .307/.380/.613. He is also leading the team in slugging percentage.
A.J. ADORES ARIZONA: Pollock led LA in hitting on Wednesday as he went 3-for-5 and drove in a run. He is now hitting .290 for the year. Pollock has enjoyed returning to Chase Field since putting on the Dodger uniform. He is hitting .308 in his old home ballpark this year and has a pair of homers, 5 RBI and an OPS of .910.
HE SAID IT 3: “I’m really focused on the day-to-day stuff. It’s what we got. Mechanically and mentally I’m at a better spot than I was last year. Keep it simple, keep it day-to-day.”—A.J. Pollock on what he has done this year to be so successful.
BLUE PEN NEWS: The Dodgers’ bullpen posted five shutout innings scoreless last night. LA is now 14-5 when the bullpen throws at least 4.2 innings in a game. The Blue Pen is owns a 2.08 ERA (25 ER/108.1 IP) and is 14-3 with 104 strikeouts in those 19 games.
ON DECK: Dustin May will look to give the Dodgers the series sweep on Thursday. He will also look to tie an MLB record for most consecutive starts without giving up more than two runs by a pitcher who is 22-years-old or younger. He hasn’t allowed more than two runs in his first eight starts of the year which is tied with Dodgers’ legendary HOF lefty Fernando Valenzuela. San Diego hurler Jake Peavy began the 2004 season with nine straight starts of fewer than three runs allowed. May is 1-1 this year with a 2.88 ERA and a 1.107 WHIP this year. He has only faced the D-Backs one time in his career and that was just for 0.1 innings but he did give up three earned runs and four hits. The Dodgers will face good ol’ friend Madison Bumgarner. Bumgarner has had a rough go of it in 2020 as he hurt his back and was on the IL from Aug. 10 until Sept. 5. He has started five games this year and is 0-4 with an 8.44 ERA and a 1.500 WHIP. Look for Muncy to tell Bumgarner to “get it out of the pool” after he deposits a ball in the pool beyond the left-center field fence.
