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In a battle of struggling starting pitchers, you would think one of them has to win. But not tonight. Both Josh Beckett and Brandon McCarthy gave up three runs in about six innings of work. Every time Arizona took a lead, the Dodgers answered back and tied it up. The Diamondbacks, however, had many more opportunities to score tonight than did the Dodgers. Eight of nine Arizona leadoff men reached base, and collectively, they left 22 men on base! (Individually, it was just nine runners, which still isn't good.)
It took until the 9th inning to "break the game open" and lead by more than a run. On the 11th pitch of the at-bat against closer Brandon League, Paul Goldschmidt hammered a pitch to deep left-center field for a two-run home run. But the drama didn't end there. J.J. Putz came out for the save, walked Nick Punto on four pitches, and was pulled from the game with an undisclosed hand injury. Heath Bell took the reigns and retired all three men he faced to preserve the win.