Steve Webb
PHOENIX, AZ — Mookie Betts, Julio Urias, Trea Turner, this message is not for you. But to everybody else on the Dodgers, what the heck, dude? That was pretty pathetic showing. The Dodgers played two of their worst games in recent memory in back-to-back days, and will fly back to LA with their heads hanging low, knowing that they have dropped their first series to the Arizona Diamondbacks. No offense and late inning defensive lapses sunk the visitors in this one as the Dodgers dropped the series finale on Wednesday afternoon by a score of 3-1. They head back to Los Angeles after a 3-3 road trip.
Don’t blame this on Urias
Last year, Julio Urias was the beneficiary of some of the best run support in baseball, which was a big part of how he got to a 20-win season in the first place. But things haven’t come quite so easy in this one. He’s already had a no-decision against the Reds in a game in which he pitched brilliantly, and now another no decision against the Diamondbacks.
Urias didn’t have his best stuff today, and was visibly frustrated on the mound at times. He seemed to lack that put-away pitch that would get him through an inning efficiently. But still, he battled on the mound for six solid innings of work. The lone blemish to his day came in the bottom of the fifth, when he gave up a solo home run to Nick Ahmed. Still, all in all, it was a third straight good outing, even if it didn’t go exactly how he might have hoped. His final line on the afternoon: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 4 K. On a day when the offense was cranking, it would have been plenty good for a win. Not so today.
Galen holds Dodgers in check
The reason the offense was not rolling was the solid mound performance of Zach Galen. Always tough against the Dodgers, and particularly good this year, Galen pitched six innings of shutout ball, only surrendering a couple of hits along the way. And, when Noe Ramirez pitched a scoreless seventh, it looked like it just might not be the Dodgers’ day. The game went into the eighth inning with the Dodgers still trailing 1-0.
Dodgers take the lead…
The Dodgers finally managed to get on the board in the top of the eighth off reliever Ian Kennedy. After Kennedy struck out pinch hitter Will Smith to start off the inning, Mookie Betts ripped a solid single into centerfield. Then, when Kennedy uncorked a wild pitch during Freddie Freeman‘s at-bat, Betts was able to advance into scoring position.
Freeman absolutely smoked a ball into right field, but right at Jordan Luplo for the second out of the inning. Not to worry, Trea Turner came through with yet another clutch hit, this time an RBI single to tie the game. Turner now has a team-leading 16 RBI on the year. However, that would be as much as they would get in the top of the inning, but the Dodgers took the field in the bottom of the inning with a fresh ball game on their hands.
…and then throw it away
The bottom of the eighth was an ugly inning, top to bottom. It started with a walk from Daniel Hudson to light-hitting Daulton Varsho. This was the second straight night that a reliever has walked the lead-off man. Dear relievers: don’t do that, mmmkay?
Then things went from bad to worse. The next hitter, Sergio Alcantara, laid down a sacrifice bunt to Max Muncy at third. It was a harmless enough bunt, and it looked like Muncy would have a fairly routine throw to get Alcantara at first. However, Max airmailed the throw, and it sailed over Freddie Freeman’s head into foul territory. By the time Mookie Betts retrieved the ball, the go-ahead run had crossed the plate. Ugh.
Then, after an infield single, the D-backs scored another run on a groundball to the infield, and almost got another one when Gavin Lux‘s throw pulled Freddie Freeman off the bag at first. Luckily for Lux and the Dodgers, the safe call on the field was overturned and the Dodgers went into the dugout once again surrendering a lead on some pretty shoddy infield defense.
The ninth inning was pretty much standard Mark Melancon fair against the Dodgers. Weak contact. 1-2-3 inning. Game over. Ugh
Back to LA
This was a pretty sorry excuse for baseball these last two games. The team heads back to LA and gets an off day on Thursday to clear its collective head a bit. Then, it’s back to work against the Tigers over the weekend. The three-game series should feature starts from Tyler Anderson, Clayton Kershaw, and Walker Buehler. Let’s hope they show up ready to play. Cuz this, was, yeah, not good.
Cans of Corn…
- Urias pitched good enough to win today, but Galen just pitched a little bit better.
- What happened to the offense? One measly run over the last 17 innings of play!
- Gavin Lux had a couple bad throws in this one. I hope it’s not a case of the yips coming on. Maybe it was a little early for the LA Times to write that glowing profile about his confidence.
- Mookie was 2-for-4 today. For the last seven games, he has more Mookie-like OPS of .924
- Trea Turner’s RBI was his 16th of the season. That’s good for second place on the NL leaderboard, just behind Nolan Arenado and CJ Cron, who both have 17.
- With the off-day on Thursday, that sets up a Clayton Kershaw start with an extra day of rest on Saturday. Plus, he’ll be pitching against a lot of guys who haven’t seen much of him. Could be a recipe for a lot of strikeouts. He will enter the game needing only four to become the all-time Dodger leader in that category.
- Plus, Saturday is Kirk Gibson bobblehead day. Gibby, who does color commentary for the Tigers’ TV broadcasts, figures to be at Dodger Stadium for the event.
