Rubby De La Rosa kept the Dodgers at bay in the first, but it wasn't without stress. He got Joc Pederson to ground out for the first out of the inning, but Howie Kendrick followed that up with a double down the right field line. Rubby got Justin Turner to strike out, but Adrian Gonzalez almost made tagged him for a two-run homer, but instead hit a very deep fly out to the left fielder, David Peralta.
In the bottom of the inning, the Diamondbacks got a couple of walks, but they didn't amount to much. A. J. Pollock walked, but then was erased by Peralta grounding into a fielder's choice. The Dodgers then walked Goldschmidt, but Tomas ended the inning by hitting into a double play.
Rubby got lucky with keeping the ball in the ballpark in the first, but that didn't carry over into the second. Andre Either, who I'm pretty sure went to U of A, hit a one out single. Yasmany Grandal then sent a 3-1 fastball into the seats. Jimmy Rollins grounded out, and Dodgers starter Carlos Frias struck out to end the inning, but not before the Dodgers got an early two run lead.
It wouldn't stay there long. The Dbacks came back in the bottom of the inning and cut the lead in half. Jake Lamb hit a single single to lead off the inning. Wellington Castillo moved him to third with a single, but he himself was thrown out thanks to a bad slide trying to stretch it out into a double. Chris Owings got the RBI thanks to, as SongBird requested in the GDT, not striking out and instead hitting a sacrifice fly to Pederson in left center field. Nick Ahmed grounded out to end the inning. 2-1 Dodgers
For the top of the third inning, Rubby his best inning so far in the night. Kendrick got a one-out single, but was stranded there. The Dbacks threatened in the bottom of the third, but nothing came of it. Rubby lead it off by hitting an infield single. It was originally ruled an out, but upon review he was given the base, and I think it was the correct call. Pollock lined out. Peralta walked to put runners on first and second, with only one out. Goldschmidt then lined out, and Tomas grounded out to end things with the Dodgers lead still intact.
It wouldn't be for long though. Lamb lead things off again and got his second single of the night. It started to look as if he was going to be stranded like so many Dbacks runners are, after Castillo popped out and Owings struck out. However, Nick Ahmed has learned how to hit, and hit well. He took the first pitch he saw and hit it for an opposite field home run to not only end the Dodgers' lead, but also put the Dbacks up by one.
Meanwhile, De La Rosa had settled into something of a groove. He didn't have a 1-2-3 inning all night long, giving up no-out, and one-out hits frequently all night long, but stranding them on the bases. He ended up going five and two-thirds innings, only allowing two runs and six hits, but recording seven strikeouts. Was it a great start? I wouldn't say so. He never gave himself an easy inning, and gave up at least one base runner in every inning. Was it, in the end, effective? Yes. He kept a very potent Dodgers lineup from scoring many runs, and thus kept his team until they were able to take advantage. I'd take a start like that every night of the week. Chip Hale brought Oliver Perez in to finish the sixth inning, and he got the job done, striking out the one batter he faced.
Sadly, the same couldn't be said about Enrique Burgos. He was brought in to pitch the seventh, face four batters, walked one, struck out one, and gave up two singles, the second of which tied the game at three. Randell Delgado came in to replace him. He gave up a deep fly ball to Justin Turner for the second out, and then got Gonzalez to ground out to end the inning. It wasn't pretty, but he got the Dbacks out of it with the tie game still intact.
It stayed tied until the first batter of the tenth inning. David Hernandez had just come on to start the inning for the Diamondbacks, and almost immediately gave up a solo home run to Howie Kendrick to break the tie and give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. He also gave up a two-run double in the same inning, lengthening the lead even further.
The home team tried to put together a run at the Dodgers' closer, Kenley Jansen, in the bottom of the tenth, but in the end, it was all for naught. Peralta drew a two-out walk, and was doubled home by Paul Goldschmidt, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Yasmany Tomas. The strike zone had been... inconsistent to say the least all night, and in the end that was what killed the Dbacks. Tomas took a very questionable strike three to end any chance the Diamondbacks had of rallying, and that's what gave you your final score. 6-4 Dodgers
Source: FanGraphs
Robot Ump: Nick Ahmed, 20.3%
Umpire who had a few too many before the game: David Hernandez, -46.5%
Standard issue bad umpires: Enrique Burgos, -25.6%, Yasmany Tomas -20.1%
Comment of the Night goes to MrMirrb for pointing out the Dodger broadcasters unintentionally using a longstanding SnakePit joke
The Dodgers radio guy just said "Chad" Pennington
And the analyst said Chad too!by MrMrrbi on Jun 30, 2015 | 9:37 PM reply unrec (1) actions
A pretty good turn out for the Gameday Thread tonight, with 653 comments spread between 29 posters at time of writing. AzDbacksFanInDC blew away the competition with 125 comments. GuruB was a not so close second with 83, and SongBird was in third with 55. All present were:
AzDbackfanInDc, AzRattler, BIGredmc, Clefo, DbacksSkins, DeadmanG, GuruB, JoeCB1991, Majabe, Makakilo, MrMrrbi, SongBird, Sprankton, Toll Booth Willie, Xerostomia, bbtng, cardshuffle, ford.williams.10, freeland1787, gamepass, hotclaws, imstillhungry95, noblevillain, nolanriley13, onedotfive, ryeandi, shoewizard, thunderpumpkin87, xmet
Same two teams face off tomorrow at 6:40. Robbie Ray goes out to see if he can continue his streak of solid outings, and help the Dbacks get a series win against the division leaders. If that's not a reason to show up, I don't know what is!