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Record: 19-15; Pace: 91-71; Change on 2012: +4
Before we get into the destruction wrought upon the Dodgers by Wade Miley and Paul Goldschmidt today, let's take a moment to recognize Clayton Kershaw's outing. Kershaw has been pretty lights out this season, and tonight was no different. Seven innings, only five hits allowed, Kershaw may have run into trouble early on, allowing a double to lead off the game, but he really only made one major mistake pitch. That mistake, however...
Wait- first, let's talk about Wade Miley.
As good as Kershaw was, Miley kept up with him. After a couple of starts where he struggled, Miley was back to looking like the guy who pitched his way into the Rookie of the Year conversation last season. 7.2 innings, and no walks from Miley, both big improvements over his last two starts. He started off strong, sending the Dodgers down 1-2-3 in the first three innings, until he stumbled in the fourth inning. The Dodgers started stringing together hits, beginning with a Dee Gordon single. Gordon scored on a double by Nick Punto, and Punto came in on a double from Adrian Gonzalez. Miley did shut the Dodgers down from there, stranding Gonzalez on the bases. He also caught Dee Gordon trying to get a jump on a stolen base in the fifth. All in all, a great outing from Miley.
Now. Paul Goldschmidt. Oh, Paul Goldschmidt. Many a Dodgers fan will find their heart chilled by tales of the destruction Goldy has brought down upon them this series. As Tim Lincecum fans have quailed in terror, Dodgers fans now know the truth of Paul Goldschmidt and his mighty swings. Be warned, Rockies and Padres fans. In his clubhouse at Chase Field, mighty Paul Goldschmidt lies dreaming of how he's going to ruin your ace starter's ERA. Iä! Iä! Goldschmidt Fhtagn!
Okay, maybe I'm overselling it a bit. But not by much.
Remember that one big mistake of Kershaw's that I mentioned? That came against Goldy. It ended up in the bleachers in left field. Unfortunately for Kershaw, it came right after Dee Gordon's own mistake on defense in the sixth, one of three errors committed by the Dodgers tonight. This particular fumble put Didi Grigorius on base, so Goldschmidt's home run tied the game at 2. The Dodgers bullpen came in at the start of the eighth inning and tried to keep the game close for the Dodgers to win it, but... One mistake. Paul Goldschmidt. Solo shot to left field again.
The Diamondbacks bullpen was more successful. Brad Ziegler came in to get an out to end the eighth for Wade Miley, and Heath Bell took the mound in the ninth for his first save opportunity as our official closer. It may have been shaky at first- a lead-off double to Skip Schumaker gave Los Angeles the tying run in scoring position for a bit of drama. But a ground out from A.J. Ellis, a strike out of Andre Ethier, and a fly out from pinch hitter Carl Crawford meant Schumaker never moved from second base, and the Diamondbacks wrapped up the trip with a sweep of the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
Really, one of the only unfortunate bits of the evening's outing came from an end of Didi Grigorius's hit streak to start his Diamondbacks career. But, hey. Ten games in a row is still a pretty good start. I guess they meant it when they said he can't hit every game...
One other interesting bit of trivia, which I'll blatantly steal borrow from our cohorts at True Blue LA:
Kershaw allowed two runs, one earned, in seven innings, leaving him one out shy of 1,000 innings pitched in his career. Among starting pitchers since 1920 with at least 1,000 innings, Whitey Ford has the best ERA at 2.7451. At 999⅔ career innings, Kershaw's ERA stands at 2.7279.
So it's not just that he owns the Diamondbacks, he's just that good in general. (Yes, he's really good against us, with a 2.36 ERA in 15 starts. But at least we aren't Giants fans, Kershaw's racked up a 1.28 ERA in 18 starts against them.)
A good GDT tonight, which became quite a bit more cheerful after Goldschmidt made his presence known in the game. imstillhungry95 took lead in comments, with SongBird and soco scrapping it out for second and third. We also had visits from 4 Corners Fan, AJV19, AzRattler, Clefo, DbackCardsFan, Fangdango, GuruB, Jake6233, Jim McLennan, Lozenge, Majabe, Marc Fournier, Paper Clip, Rockkstarr12, The so-called Beautiful, TolkienBard, TylerO, Zavada's Moustache, aricat, asteroid, azshadowwalker, benhat, blank_38, hotclaws, kishi, onedotfive, porty99, rd33, txzona, and walleye01. Our most rec'd comment came from hotclaws, as she relayed a Tweet from Daniel Hudson after Goldy's first home run:
— Daniel Hudson (@DHuddy41) May 9, 2013
"... Are we not all ,in some way ,looking for our cow ? "- Brian Yeast
Hey, it had the recs.
So we sweep the Dodgers out the door, then reluctantly let them back in as we remember that it was a road game. A 4-2 trip is a pretty good one, so the Diamondbacks will try to keep that momentum up as they come home to face the Philadelphia Phillies for a four game set this weekend.