Seager’s back, but Dodgers lose in extras

PHOENIX — All the news was good on Friday, except what happened on the field. First, the Dodgers got an awesome haul on the trade deadline. Second, shortstop Corey Seager made his long-awaited return to the diamond. Seager went 2-for-5 and looked pretty darn good for a guy who’s been on the shelf for two and a half months. Unfortunately, the Dodgers weren’t able to complete the perfect day by winning the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. They mounted a nice late inning comeback, but in the end fell short, dropping yet another extra-inning game, this one by a score of 6-5.

Gallen holds Dodger bats in check early

For the first five innings, Dodgers couldn’t solve D’backs starter Zac Gallen. The visitors only managed one scratch hit over the first five innings while Gallen struck out eight. It looked for a while like the team might be headed for a second straight shut out. Gallen, a pitcher who has struggled to find it all year, really looked like his old self, who had attacked the zone and had a sub-3.00 ERA in his first two big league seasons.

Gonsolin wild in 1.2 innings of work

Meanwhile, Dodgers’ pitchers just couldn’t seem to find the plate. In particular, starter Tony Gonsolin was particularly wild, walking five Arizona hitters over the first two innings, And , of course, those walks came back to hurt him big time. After issuing three free passes to load up the bases in the bottom of the second, Gonsolin gave up a two-run double to Josh VanMeter and the Snakes were on the board. When Gonsolin walked the very next hitter to re-load the bases, manager Dave Roberts had seen enough. It was an early hook for Gonsolin, who still struggles to find the consistency that characterized so much of his performance in 2020. His disappointing line for the night: 1.2 IP, 1 H 2 ER, 1 K, 5 BB.

Dodgers get on the board in the sixth

Trailing, 3-0, the Dodgers finally managed to break through in the top of the sixth inning. And who else but Chris Taylor to start it off? CT3 led off the inning with a no-doubt home run to score the Dodgers’ first run. Taylor took Gallen’s first pitch of the inning, an 86 MPH slider, and deposited deep over the left field fence for his 17th home run of the year. His torrid July continues apace. With one more game to go in the month, Taylor’s slash line for July is .330/.368/.630. He has almost single-handedly kept the Dodgers afloat this month.

But the Dodgers weren’t done in the sixth. They followed up Taylor’s blast with three solid singles from Muncy, Turner, and Seager, to load up the bases with nobody out. And off the bat, it looked like next hitter AJ Pollock‘s fly ball had a shot at being the Dodgers’ tenth grand slam of the year. Unfortunately, it sort of died on the way to its destination and ended up being a fly out to the deepest part of the ball park in right center. However, it did score Max Muncy from third on a sacrifice fly, so it wasn’t a total waste. But that was all the Dodgers would get in the inning, and went into the bottom of the sixth with the score now 3-2 in favor of the D’backs.

Punch and counterpunch

However, Arizona was able to counterpunch in the bottom of the inning. Rookie Drew Ellis led off the inning with his first big-league hit, a single off reliever Brusdar Graterol. Roberts pulled the Bazooka in favor of Victor Gonzalez, who promptly served up a run-scoring double to Josh VanMeter, his second two-bagger of the game. After a couple of flyballs, VanMeter made it home, and the Diamondbacks were up by three again.

At least the Dodgers showed some fight in this game. In the seventh, they got right back to work. Billy McKinney and pinch hitter Matt Beaty started off the inning with back-to-back singles, and the Dodgers had a nice little threat cooking. And, as luck would have it, hottest hitter on the planet Chris Taylor was coming up to bat. And once again, Taylor came through in the clutch, pasting a triple off the right center field wall to score both runners and make it a 5-4 ballgame.

LOB the story of the night for the Dodgers

But again, the Dodgers’ failed to build on that big hit. They left Taylor stranded at third, as Muncy, Turner, and Seager were all unable to drive him home. On the night, the team ended up 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position, so it was definitely a winnable game. The Dodgers got another run in the eighth on a pinch-hit RBI single from Albert Pujols, but once again, the inning ended with a Dodger runner on third base. Kenley Jansen and Blake Treinen both had their “adventures” in the eighth and ninth innings, but managed not to give up any more runs. So at the end of regulation play, the game was tied 5-5.

Tenth-inning bummer

On to extra innings. Goodie. And this one went about as all of the others had this year. The Dodgers had three inoffensive flyballs in the top of the tenth and failed to score. Jimmy Nelson got the thankless task of trying to squirm out of it in the bottom of the tenth, but after one out, he gave up a single to Asdrubel Cabrera, and AJ Pollock’s throw to the plate was off line. Ball game. Final score: 6-5 in favor of los Serpientes.

Bullpen game on Saturday

Luckily for the Dodgers, both the Padres and the Giants lost as well, so there was no movement in the standings one way or the other. However, it is games just like this that should be an opportunity to gain some ground against San Francisco, who are playing a much tougher opponent. With no Max Scherzer for a couple of days, it will be a bullpen game on Saturday, which will be interesting, considering how many pitchers got used on Friday night. There is sure to be a roster move or two prior to first pitch on Friday. Game time: 5;10 pm.