Dodgers Recap: Short Rest, Long Balls in Dodgers’ loss to D-backs

PHOENIX, AZ — Well, that could have gone better. For the first time this season, ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched on five days rest. The results were not enouraging. He had the worst outing of his season, and the Dodgers fell to the Diamondbacks by a score of 5-3.

For the first third of the ballgame, it looked like Yamamoto was going to have another effective outing. He was working from behind more than he’d like, but in the end, he was putting zeroes on the scoreboard. That all came to a screeching halt in the bottom of the fourth. Pavin Smith worked a leadoff walk to open the frame, followed by an infield single and a hit batsman, and suddenly, the bases were loaded with nobody out. Yikes. That brought Gabriel Moreno to the plate. Yoshi fell behind 2-0 to the D-backs catcher, and then… disaster. A center-cut cutter that just laid there and did nothing. That is, until Moreno walloped it to right field. It didn’t have a whole lot of distance, but it did the job just the same: a grand slam to give the D-backs a 4-0 lead. Youch.

To make matters worse, Yamamoto surrendered a second homer in the following frame, giving up a solo shot to Ketel Marte. That put the score at 5-0 and effectively ended Yamamoto’s night. His final line for the night: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 4 K. His ERA basically doubles to 1.80. Not what you want.

Meanwhile, Snakes starter Brandon Pfaadt was giving the LA hitters fits all night long. They couldn’t get anything going against the Arizona righty. They only managed three hits and four walks over 6.1 innings. Not a great night for your offense to go cold.

The Dodgers got some action going against the D-backs pen, scoring 3 runs in the final two innings. Max Muncy drove in a run in the eighth with a double. and then Andy Pages plated another with a single, but the Dodgers went into the final inning trailing by three. Shohei Ohtani smashed his eleventh homer of the season to get the Dodgers a little closer, but that would be all she wrote offensively. The Dodgers drop this first one due to one shaky inning from their ace. It happens. Shake it off and get back at it on Friday.

This four-game set with the Snakes rolls on through the weekend. On Friday, it will be our first chance to watch Roki Sasaki on “short” rest, just as we saw Yamamoto on Thursday. Dave Roberts has been pretty careful about keeping Sasaki on a Japanese-style once-a-week routine, but we’ll be seeing him on just five days rest this time around. Should be a good test for the rookie. He’ll lock horns with Dodger refusenik Eduardo Rodriguez, who has struggled to get his footing this year (1-3, 5.92 ERA, 45 SO). First pitch is once again at 6:40 PDT. See you there!

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