Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Things are starting to get a little lifeless at the ravine. For the third straight game, the Dodgers did not play well. Madison Bumgarner, who has been one of the worst pitchers in the National League this year, suddenly looked like the Mad Bum of days gone by against an uninspired and unmotivated lineup. But for a Mookie Betts home run, the Dodgers had nothing in the way of offense. Meanwhile, Dustin May’s on-again-off-again struggles returned and the Dodgers dropped a second straight game to the Arizona Diamondbacks by a score of 6-1.
May’s command still elusive
Dustin May was coming off five no-hit innings against the Giants, so hopes ran high as he took the mound on Wednesday night. However, Code Red was not sharp in this one. It took him 79 pitches to get through just four innings, and the Diamondbacks got five and runs off the Dodgers starter. The big blow came in the fourth inning, when rookie Corbin Carroll ripped a bases-clearing double off May to make the score 5-0. The final line of the night for D-May: 4.0 IP 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K.
“I’m at a point now where I feel comfortable with everything, I just need to go out there and execute,” May said after the rough outing. “It’s not really a thing with Tommy John anymore. I just need to go out there and throw strikes.”
For his part, manager Dave Roberts saw it not so much as a problem of command as it was a problem of pitch selection. “Tonight, whether he was getting into predictable counts or he was in position to put a hitter away, he wasn’t able to do that,” Roberts said. “Trying to bully guys, which I think sometimes he’s guilty of with the four-seamer, gets too predictable. Just continuing to understand his mix the right way will prove beneficial.”
Chris Martin, Alex Vesia, Caleb Ferguson, and Justin Bruihl all pitched scoreless innings, but the D-backs added a tack-on run off Tommy Kahnle, thanks mostly to his wildness: one hit batsman, one swinging bunt, one wild pitch and one sacrifice fly.
Betts blast only hit off Mad-Bum
Either Bumgarner had rediscovered the fountain of youth on the way in from the hotel, or the Dodgers’ hitters were particularly unfocused in this one. Mad-Bum was looking like his San Francisco prime all night, and allowed only one hit all night: a solo home run for Mookie Betts. Otherwise, the Dodgers could get nothing going in this one. They scraped together a hint of a rally in the bottom of the 9th when both Trea and Freddie got base knocks, but that fire got quickly extinguished with a game-ending double play from Justin Turner.
Season series wraps up on Thursday
This weird, doubleheader-heavy season series with Arizona comes to a merciful conclusion on Thursday with the best pitching match-up of the series. It’ll pit the Dodgers’ own Julio Urias against the Snakes’ brilliant Zac Gallen, who’s been simply spectacular all summer. His ERA in his last seven starts is a ridiculous 0.99, and he’s coming off a fantastic run at Orel Hershiser‘s scoreless innings record. After six straight scoreless outings, he’s given up 5 ER over the last two starts, so it’ll be a nice test for these Dodger hitters going into the postseason. The more elite pitching the boys see between now and then, the better. First pitch on Thursday: 7:10 pm.
Cans of Corn…
- On the bright side, at least there weren’t any errors.
- In all the fuss yesterday, we forgot to congratulate Tyler Anderson on the birth of his third child, a baby boy named Tucker.
- With no more double-dips in sight, Ryan Pepiot was optioned back to OKC.
- Joining Pepiot at Oklahoma City will be both Kevin Pillar and Victor Gonzalez, who were assigned there to begin rehab assignments.
- Yency Almonte is already there in OKC. His first outing went well on Thursday: a 1-2-3 frame with a strikeout.
- Chris Martin walked a guy in this one. First time since May.
- Mookie’s home run was his 35th, making him the first Dodger since Duke Snider in 1954 to get 35 home runs and smack 35 doubles in the same year.
- Trea Turner just barely extended his hitting streak to 18 games by getting an infield hit in the bottom of the 9th.
