Diamondbacks had Dodgers on ropes before taking on another frustrating loss
PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks were three outs away from a comeback, marquee victory against a division rival, but the Los Angeles Dodgers walked off the field 14-11 winners on Friday night.
The D-backs overcame an 8-3 deficit, storming back on a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. game-tying grand slam in the fifth and a go-ahead walk by Eugenio Suarez in the sixth. Ketel Marte hit two home runs, the Dodgers were shut down from innings 4-8 and Arizona went into the ninth inning ahead 11-8.
“Beat L.A.” chants drowned out the many Dodger fans at sold-out Chase Field, which had a real buzz all night, dressed in purple to celebrate the new City Connect jerseys. The Diamondbacks — despite a month-plus of uneven play — were set to take the second game in a row against their first-place counterparts. Could this be a launching point?
Rapidly, seemingly in a just few moments, the Dodgers roared back with six runs in the ninth inning. A statement for the D-backs became another feather in the cap of Shohei Ohtani, who crushed the go-ahead, three-run home run off Ryan Thompson after Kevin Ginkel blew the save.
“ I felt like we should have won that game,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “We did enough to win that game. I don’t wanna sugarcoat it. I’m frustrated enough because we had everything lined up the way we wanted. We got out-executed. That bothers me. I believe enough in our team to go out there in the right situation, at the right time and execute at a high level to win those games.”
Add this one to a growing list of heart-wrenching defeats for the Diamondbacks (20-19). It goes right below their loss at Wrigley Field despite scoring 10 runs in an inning and dropping a game to Atlanta in which Eugenio Suarez homered four times.
The Diamondbacks scored 29 runs in those three games. They’ve scored 11 runs three times this season and are 1-2.
Their bullpen is banged up, with Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk on the injured list, and it has been a struggle to make that up.
“We did some incredible things tonight and it’s a loss in the standings and that sucks,” Thompson said. “It sucks to have a big part in that.”
In a game as grand as this was, one with five lead changes and the win probability pendulum swing all over the place, there were plenty of positives and negatives to take away from the Diamondbacks.
Negative: 9th-inning collapse
The ninth inning got away really quickly. Ginkel entered for the save and gave up four straight hits to tie the game. It only took 11 pitches.
The Diamondbacks have 12 saves and eight blown saves this season, tied for the most blown saves in the National League.
Thompson entered the game with two men on and one out to face Ohtani. He worked ahead 1-2 and then delivered a splitter down in the strike zone. Thompson said it popped out of his hand, Lovullo called it the wrong pitch for that moment.
