Steve Webb
PHOENIX, AZ — Ugh. It’s one thing to lose to a quality opponent like San Diego or Atlanta. Quite another to lose to a team as hapless as the 2022 version of the Arizona Diamondbacks. But that is just what the Dodgers did on Tuesday night, squandering opportunity after opportunity en route to a 5-3 defeat at Chase Field. The problem? Sloppy play, poor decision making, and ultimately untimely hitting. The Dodgers hit into five double plays in this one, erasing most of the the fifteen baserunners that they had on the evening. Not only should the Dodgers have won this one, but they should have won by a lot. Instead, it’s an L, and they fall out of first place in the NL West.
Things look good early
And the night got off to such a nice start, too. Once again, the Dodgers jumped all over the starter in the first inning, scoring big before they even took the field in this one. After two straight one-out walks in the top of the first, Max Muncy hit a single to load the bases. That brought up catcher Will Smith with an early chance to do some damage.
And that is just what he did. Smitty cranked a 2-1 sinker from starter Zach Davies into the gap in right center, scoring all three Dodger baserunners and staking the Boys in Blue to an early 3-0 lead.
Let the frustration begin…
After that promising start, essentially nothing went right for the Dodgers for the rest of the night. Gavin Lux choked on a fairly easy throw to first to let an extra run score in the D-backs’ half of the third, and with only a couple of knocks, the Snakes were able to tie it up 3-3.
Then came the avalanche of double plays. The Dodgers hit into five separate double plays in the game, most of them on hard-hit grounders, but a couple on just bone-headed baserunning errors (looking at you on this one, CT3). The team had baserunners in every inning except the fifth and the ninth, and yet, could not deliver a blow that would put them out in front. Time after time, they just couldn’t come up with a clutch hit to save them tonight.
Peralta puts Dodgers out of their misery
Still, even with all of the ineptitude the Dodgers showed tonight, they were still in this thing in the late innings. The game went into the eighth tied at three apiece. That is until Brusdar Graterol got into the game in the bottom of the frame. The Bazooka has been good this year, but he clearly didn’t have it going on Tuesday night. He walked the first hitter he saw on four pitches, and then faced the D-backs’ outfielder David Peralta. He greased a fastball down the chute for strike one, but when his next pitch went wide, Graterol came back over the plate with a slider that hung way too much.
Peralta walloped the ball to deep center field for a no-doubt two run dinger, and that was that. Graterol got out of the inning with no further damage, but it was too little too late. Dodger nemesis and new D-backs closer Mark Melancon came on in the ninth, and worked a tidy 1-2-3 inning to send the Dodgers shaking their heads to the showers.
Rubber match Wednesday afternoon
Yuck. It was just one frustration after another in this one. Best have a short memory on nights like this. Now 12-5, the Dodgers will send Julio Urias to the mound to try to win the series on a getaway day matinee. First pitch will be 12:10 LA time. It’s been such a good road trip so far. Let’s hope this clunker can be flushed quickly on Wednesday afternoon.
Cans of Corn…
- The poor baserunning had a lot to do with this loss. Trea was caught stealing and CT3 seemed to have lost track of either the ball or the number of outs in the seventh inning when he got doubled up on a Mookie liner to left.
- Gavin Lux’s error was not a professional baseball play.
- Not sure why Doc pulled Vesia in the eighth when he had a switch hitter in Cole Hummel at the plate. Graterol walked him on four pitches that weren’t even in the same zip code as the plate, setting up the Peralta blast.
- Other than Graterol, everybody pitched well tonight. Tony Gonsolin ran into some tough luck, but didn’t get hit that hard. Course, he didn’t help matters by issuing a walk and hitting a batter in the three-run third.
