Recap: Diamondbacks Shut Out Dodgers To Hand Them 4th Straight Loss
Ray walked Alex Guerrero with two outs in the bottom of the fourth before completing another scoreless inning by striking out Wood. The strikeout was Ray’s seventh of the game. Neither team managed to get a runner on the fifth as the Diamondbacks continued to cling to their 1-0 lead.
Wood struck out two of three batters faced in the sixth to give him six punchouts on 70 pitches through six innings of work. Ray matched Wood’s effort by retiring the Dodgers in order to complete a sixth scoreless inning on the night.
Guerrero made a nice play on a slow chopper hit by Chris Owings in the seventh inning. Owings was initially ruled safe, but Dodgers manager Don Mattingly successfully challenged the call. The Dodgers then caught some bad luck as Pollock’s line drive to center field hit the top of the fence and skipped over for a solo home run.
Chris Hatcher then game on in relief of Wood, who threw 79 pitches and allowed two runs in 6.1 innings. Goldschmidt gave the Diamondbacks back-to-back home runs with his solo shot just clearing the wall in right-center field. Hatcher proceeded to strikeout the next two batters, but the Dodgers’ deficit sat at 3-0.
Andrew Chafin took over in the bottom of the seventh for the Diamondbacks and promptly walked Heisey to start the inning. Ahmed’s diving stop robbed Guerrero of a base hit and led to a force out at second base. Austin Barnes pinch-hit for Hatcher and drew a walk to put two on with one out.
Diamondbacks manager made a visit to the mound, but it was to remove Ahmed, who injured himself on the diving stop. Adjusting their middle infield didn’t make a difference for the Diamondbacks as they turned a 6-4-3 double play on a Ruggiano grounder to end the inning.
J.P. Howell entered in the eighth and gave up consecutive singles with no outs. Howell picked off David Peralta, which allowed Drury to advance to second base while the Dodgers had Peralta in a rundown. Howell walked pinch-hitter Jamie Romak and was removed from the game.
Yimi Garcia came on in relief and struck out the two batters face to prevent the Diamondbacks from adding to their 3-0 lead. Daniel Hudson worked his way through the Dodgers’ order in the bottom of the eighth.
Jim Johnson allowed back-to-back base hits, with the second coming to Goldschmidt and with Pollock on the move, thus leaving runners on the corners with no outs. Saltalamacchia hit a pop fly off the third base line that was in foul territory before carrying back toward fair ground and landing on the chalk between Guerrero an Carl Crawford.
A run scored on the play, and it marked the end of Johnson’s night. Adam Liberatore, freshly recalled from Triple-A, became the fifth Dodgers reliever used.
Ender Inciarte’s drag-bunt single loaded the bases, before the Dodgers managed to record a force out at home plate on Peralta’s grounder to second base. Drury then clubbed a three-run home run to blow the game open. The Dodgers didn’t muster any comeback in the bottom of the ninth and lost, 8-0.
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