Dodgers Team News

Dodgers Postgame: L.A. Loses Hangover Game on 10th-Inning Walkoff Homer

The Dodgers lost to the Diamondbacks, 5-3, in ten innings on Tuesday, allowing Arizona to avoid the sweep and snap a 10-game losing streak to the Dodgers.

The Dodgers scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th when Hanser Alberto’s bunt turned into a single due to shoddy defense and then a Reyes Moronta wild pitch allowed Austin Barnes to score.



Craig Kimbrel came on for the one-run save in the bottom of the 10th with Ketel Marte placed at second base. The inning started shaky when Kimbrel walked leadoff hitter Corbin Carroll, but he struck out Alek Thomas and induced a weak groundout from Cooper Hummel. With the tying and winning runs in scoring position, Kimbrel got behind pinch-hitter Sergio Alcantara, who hit a 2-1 fastball into the seats in right field to win the game.

DBacks almost steal the win in the ninth

With two outs and Jake McCarthy at third base in the bottom of the ninth inning, Corbin Carroll stepped up to the plate. After the second pitch of Carroll’s at-bat, McCarthy waited for Barnes to throw the ball back to Evan Phillips, then darted for home. Phillips alertly caught the throw and fired another strike back to Barnes, who dropped a knee and tagged McCarthy out to end the inning and send the game to extra innings.

The DBacks challenged whether Barnes had illegally blocked the plate, but replays showed that he straddled it until he caught the ball, at which point he legally used his shinguard to block McCarthy’s path.

Hangover lineup did almost enough

Back in the days of 40-man September rosters, the day after a clinch would generally have a lineup full of guys who had spent most of the year in the minors. With the new September roster rules, teams can’t do the wholesale lineup turnover anymore, but Dave Roberts still found a way to get Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, Freddie Freeman, and Justin Turner all out of the lineup on the morning after their division-clinching celebration.

Still, the replacements for those four stars were Trayce Thompson, Hanser Alberto, Miguel Vargas, and Austin Barnes, which isn’t quite the hangover lineup of yesteryear. The day after the Dodgers clinched in 2013 and jumped in Arizona’s Forbidden Pool, their lineup in San Diego included Tim Federowicz, Drew Butera, Alex Castellanos, and Nick Buss. Shockingly, that team got shut out.

Roberts stayed committed to an entire day off for his four stars, allowing Joey Gallo to face lefty Joe Mantiply in a tie game in the ninth inning. You can do that when you’ve clinched four weeks before the postseason starts.

Will and Trayce turn on the power

Shortly after Tim Neverett and Eric Karros mentioned that Austin Barnes still held the mark for the longest home run by a Dodger this year, Will Smith said nuh uh, driving a 465-foot moonshot way over the wall in dead center to cut the DBacks’ lead to 2-1.

The next batter was Thompson, and he took a shot at the distance mark, too, driving a homer 445 feet into the left-field seats to tie the game.

The game would remain tied until the 10th inning.

Kahnle returns

Tommy Kahnle pitched for the first time in four months, and he looked very good, striking out two batters in a 1-2-3 seventh inning.

Kahnle was activated from the 60-day injured list on Tuesday.

Up next

The Dodgers are now 98-44 and have a day off on Thursday before starting a weekend series in San Francisco. Dustin May will take on Logan Webb on Friday night’s AppleTV+ game.

Jeff Snider

Jeff was born into a Dodgers family in Southern California and is now raising a Dodgers family of his own in Utah. During his previous career as an executive at a technology company, he began writing about baseball in his spare time. After leaving corporate America in 2014, he started doing it professionally. Jeff wrote and edited for Baseball Essential for years before joining Dodgers Nation. He's also the co-host of the Locked On Dodgers podcast, a daily podcast that brings the smart fan's perspective on our Boys in Blue. Jeff has a degree in English from Brigham Young University. Favorite Player: Clayton Kershaw Favorite Moment: Kirk Gibson's homer will always have a place, but Kershaw's homer on Opening Day 2013 might be the winner.

11 Comments

    1. He seems to be one of those “coin flip closers”, there’s a 50/50 chance he’ll blow the save. It will be hard to sell anyone on the idea that Roberts and the front office didn’t see Kimbrel’s problem in closing out a game. It seems that collective leadership for the club want to prove acquiring Kimbrel was a good idea and investment. The salient question is will they risk this entire season’s accomplishments on proving they were right.

      1. They should have picked up a real closer before the trade deadline. Just let Kimbrel go and pay him the rest of his salary. All that money to just pitch one inning and get three outs. He once as a great closer, but no more!

    2. Get rid of Kimbrel NOW. He’s bad news. Superstition around a new song won’t rectify a failed experiment.

      Instead, if the idea is to conserve the arms of the rest of the bullpen, let Hanser Alberto serve as the closer for the rest of the regular season. He’d do as well or better, throwing at 65 mph, than Kimbrel.

  1. Fire Roberts! He benches our best players. I knew right away that we were going to lose this game.

  2. Kraig Krumble blows another save. You think they can trust this guy in game 7 of the World Series? Like trusting a fart while wearing a white suit!

  3. Can they please stop putting Kimbrel in to save the game, And can they not bring him back next year. This loss I hang on Roberts and Kimbrel.

    1. I completely concur. Usually when I see Kimbrel coming I know that we are (unfortunately) in for an eventful inning; he is the antithesis of a reliable “closer.”

  4. So mad about Kimbrel blowing another save, especially when the team worked so hard to get the lead back,…. Every time he gets 2 outs,… he just chokes!!! on getting the 3rd out!!
    ROBERTS,… do your job and keep this guy in the ball pen!!! Friedman,…. Get rid of this guy!!!
    Can’t have him on this team especially when the playoffs and World Series is in our reach.

  5. Think about this: Reyes Moronta, who the Dodgers DFA’d earlier this season, has a better season ERA than Kimblow. And he got the win for the Diamondbacks in the game that Kimblow puked away. I want Kimblow off this roster now!

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