Jim Cella
ARIZONA—The Dodgers’ bullpen, which entered the game with a 21-inning scoreless streak, squandered a 2-run lead in the eighth inning as Los Angeles fell 5-3 to the Diamondbacks on Friday. The first set back of the year for the Blue Pen erased a 4-inning scoreless start from Tony Gonsolin and the first home run in a Dodger uniform from Mookie Betts. The loss ends the Dodgers’ 3-game win streak and drops LA to 5-3 on the year. Arizona puts a stop to their 2-game skid and is now 3-5.
GAME RECAP: It was the Mookie and Tony show for the first five innings of the game. Betts drove in both of the Dodgers’ single runs in the fourth and fifth frames and Gonsolin only allowed one hit in his 4.0 innings of work. Betts staked the Dodgers to a 1-0 lead when he connected on a 2-2 changeup and sent a 375-foot shot in the empty right field seats. He would add a second RBI on the night when his infield single brought home Edwin Rios, who doubled to deep center to lead off the inning, in the fifth frame. Gonsolin threw 63 pitches in his first outing of the season, 40 of which were for strikes. He also threw first-pitch strikes to eight of the 13 batters he faced and retired the first 10 Arizona batters.
The game unraveled for the Dodgers in the bottom of the eighth. After Corey Seager hit another mammoth blast (444 feet) to give LA a 3-1 lead in the top half of the inning, the D-backs scored all four runs with two outs in the at-bat. Blake Treinen entered the game for the Dodgers in the eighth and struck out Ildemaro Vargas to start the inning. Ketel Marte reached on a fielding error from Justin Turner and took second when Treinen walked Kole Calhoun. Treinen was able to get Starling Marte to ground out to short and it looked like he might work his way out of the jam. Unfortunately, Treinen walked Eduardo Escobar to load the bases and then gave up a bases clearing double to No.5 hitter Christian Walker. Treinen was replaced in favor of Joe Kelly and Kelly would add to the misery. He promptly allowed a single off the bat of Carson Kelly which plated Walker and brought the score to 5-3. The Dodgers tried to rally in the ninth as pinch hitter Matt Beaty walked and Betts doubled to center field to send Beaty to third. Cody Bellinger came to the plate with a chance to tie the game with a base hit but he hit a pop fly down the third base line on the very first pitch which was caught in foul territory to end the game.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS:
SERIES STUFF: The loss evens the season series with Arizona at 1-1. The Dodgers hold a 12-9 edge over the Diamondbacks in the last two years and are up 214-179 in the overall series which started in 1998.
STRANDED: The Dodgers left nine men on base on Friday and stranded two runners in each of the fourth, fifth and ninth innings. Los Angeles has stranded at least eight runners on base in seven of their first eight games and has left a total of 74 (9.25 avg/gm) runners on base this season.
BETTS BATTING BETTER: Betts is starting to find his stride at the plate in Dodger Blue. He started the year 3-for-20 (.150) with no extra base hits in the first four games. Since going on the road, he is hitting .368 (7-for-19) with three doubles and a home run. He is now hitting .256 for the year with a .310 OBP and a .410 slugging percentage.
DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT: Betts showed off his hose in right field in the bottom of the first inning when he threw a 300-foot laser from the foul territory wall, just inside the warning track, that nailed Ketel Marte who was trying to stretch a bloop double into a triple. It was Betts’ first assist as a Dodger and he now has had 29 chances on the year without making an error. Betts was a 4-time Gold Glove winner for the Red Sox.
ERROR-LESS STREAK ENDS: The Dodgers entered the game having gone five straight games without committing an error and hadn’t had a miscue since the third inning in Game 2 against the Giants. Their error-less inning streak was at 55 innings heading into Friday and LA pushed that total to 62 before Turner made an error in the fateful eighth inning. The Dodgers have now committed only three errors in their first eight games of the year.
TRENDING UP: Seager’s red-hot summer camp truly was a crystal ball for the regular season. He has hit safely in seven of the eight games this year and leads the team with a .344 average. He also leads, or is tied for the lead, in home runs (3), RBI (6) and total bases (22) and is second in OBP (.417), SLG (.688) and OPS (1.104).
TRENDING DOWN: Bellinger continues to struggle at the plate. He stranded runners on second and third in the ninth and went 0-for-5 with a pair of Ks. He is now hitting .139 on the season. Bellinger is 1-for-19 (.052) on the road trip and has left six men in scoring position in those four games.
UP NEXT: The Dodgers are schedule to play the Diamondbacks in Game 3 of the series on Saturday at 5:10 p.m. Los Angeles will send Julio Urias to the hill for the second time this season. He has a 1.80 ERA on the year after getting a no decision in his only start which came on Sunday vs. the Giants. He went 5.0 innings in that start and allowed five hits, three walks and struck out three. Urias is 1-1 lifetime against the D-backs but has never started against AZ. He has thrown 7.0 innings, posted a 1.29 ERA and a 0.857 WHIP with 5 Ks. Arizona will throw Luke Weaver on Saturday. He lost his only other start of the year. It was a short outing for Weaver as he only lasted only 3.1 innings against the Padres. Weaver allowed seven hits and six earned runs in that game which was a Diamondbacks’ 6-2 loss. Weaver is in his fifth MLB season – and second as a Diamondback. He has a career 4.52 ERA in his time in St. Louis and Arizona. Weaver is 1-0 against the Dodgers but that is deceiving since he owns an 8.00 ERA in three appearances and 9.0 innings pitches. Weaver only has one start vs. LA which came last year when he lasted 4.1 innings and allowed five runs and six hits in the game on Mar. 31.
