Diamondbacks 8, Dodgers 6: Working Overtime

Record: 37-29. Pace: 91-71. Change on 2012: +5.

Today's game wasn't necessarily what we expected, I suspect. The Diamondbacks offense threatened early on. They threatened a lot. Two runners on in the first, but an inning ending double play thwarted that. A leadoff single in the second got another double play. A single from Patrick Corbin and a walk gave us two on with one out in the third, but two ground balls let the Dodgers stay out of trouble there.

Los Angeles wasn't having much more luck there, either. Corbin posted a 1-2-3 inning in the first, and got the Dodgers to strand a one-out single of their own in the second. He ran into a little trouble in the third, though, as Alex Castellanos led off with a single. A sacrifice bunt from Hyun-Jin Ryu moved the runner to second, but he was out trying to take third on a fielder's choice from Nick Punto. Punto rounded out his questionable inning by trying to steal second base, getting thrown out with ease by Miguel Montero. Whew. Remember when that guy was kind of a defensive liability?

The Diamondbacks finally broke through to score in the fourth inning, and they had a little help to start out there, too. The team began by stringing together singles- Cody Ross to lead off the inning, Miguel Montero to follow, and then Martin Prado singled to left. Matt "The Human Pinwheel" Williams (that's not his nickname, don't Google that) sent Ross in to score, as Jerry Hairston, Jr., fired in a throw that beat Ross by ten feet. But Ramon Hernandez couldn't hold on to the ball for the Dodgers, and Ross was safe for the game's first run. A single by Didi Gregorius brought Montero in to score, and then the Diamondbacks got a third run on a double play from Cliff Pennington. 3-0, Arizona midway through the third.

After another 1-2-3 inning for Corbin and another inning ending double play for the Diamondbacks offense, Corbin ran into trouble in the fifth inning. It started with a leadoff double for Juan Uribe. Uribe took third on a ground out by Andre Ethier, and then scored on another ground out from Hernandez. With two outs, things started to get difficult. Castellanos hit a ground rule double for the Dodgers, his first of the season, and then took third on a passed ball. The passed ball didn't seem too important, though, as Ryu hit a ball to right that got past a diving Gerardo Parra, rolling all the way to the wall, and ending up with Ryu on third base. Things got ugly after that. A single from Punto brought Ryu in to tie the game, and the Ethier singled to put runners at the corners. A single from Adrian Gonzalez brought Punto in for a Dodgers lead, 4-3, before Corbin finally got Hairston to fly out to end the inning. Not Corbin's finest inning- actually, his worst this season, as this was the first time he'd given up more than two runs in an inning.

It was also the end of Corbin's evening, as the Diamondbacks threatened in the top of the sixth inning, bringing the pitcher's spot to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. WIllie Bloomquist came in to pinch hit- and popped out to right. Five innings, four runs, and Corbin on the hook for the loss.

That worry didn't last too long, though. After a bottom of the sixth that was only remarkable for Ramon Hernandez stealing second base on Will Harris, Ryu was pulled for Chris WIthrow, and the Diamondbacks put together a two out rally in the seventh. They decided to do it the hard way and just string together singles. Paul Goldschmidt started it with a single, took second on Cody Ross's hit, and then came around to tie the game with Miguel Montero's single to left. Martin Prado walked to load the bases again, but the Dodgers replaced Withrow with Paco Rodriguez, who got Didi to strike out and end the inning.

So, with the game tied, it became a struggle between bullpens. Dodgers fans immediately began lighting candles to pray that Brandon League wouldn't make an appearance.

Both bullpens played well through the rest of regulation. Tony Sipp and Brad Ziegler teamed up to hold the seventh inning, and David Hernandez went two innings, getting the Dodgers to end the ninth with a double play of their own, and the Diamondbacks were on to extra innings.

The tenth went quietly, with Josh Collmenter taking the mound for Arizona. The Diamondbacks offense threatened in the eleventh, with Pennington leading off the inning with a double. They weren't able to do anything more than move him up ninety feet, though, and he was stranded. Fortunately, Collmenter sent the Dodgers down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning, and the Diamondbacks had another chance in the twelfth.

This time, they took advantage. Another leadoff double, this one from Cody Ross. Miguel Montero followed that with a single. A ground rule double from Martin Prado gave the DBacks a run and a lead, while an intentional walk to Didi loaded the bases with nobody out. It was a Dodgers fan's worst case scenario.

Wait, no, then Mattingly went to the bullpen for Brandon League. Now it was a Dodgers fan's worst case scenario.

Pennington came to bat and singled off League to bring in Montero. League got two outs, as a fly ball from the pinch hitting Eric Hinske wasn't enough to bring in a run and a fielder's choice from A.J. Pollock had Prado out at home. But he couldn't quite close the deal, and a single from Parra brought in two more runs to make the score 8-6. Goldschmidt drew a walk to load the bases again, bring Cody Ross back up for his second at bat of the inning, but he grounded out to short, ending the inning. Geez, Ross. Is two hits in an inning too much to ask?

With a four run lead, the Diamondbacks decided to enroll us all in the Heath Bell experience, regardless of any heart or back conditions or if any viewers were pregnant women. And Bell gave up a solo home run to Ramon Hernandez to start the inning. Wooo, the experience. Bell then gave up a single to Yasiel Puig and walked Skip Schumaker. A couple of ground balls advanced the runners, bringing Puig in to score on Mark Ellis's ground out. A two-out walk to Adrian Gonzalez brought the winning run to the plate for Los Angeles in the form of Tim Federowicz, but Bell got another ground ball for a fielder's choice, and the Diamondbacks breathed a sigh of relief as they took the game and the series from the Dodgers.

Sooooooo, not quite what we wanted for Corbin's shot at his tenth win. But good enough, and the Diamondbacks win the series in Dodger Stadium. Which, True Blue LA points out, we're good at- the last time the Dodgers won a series against the Diamondbacks in Los Angeles was October 2010. Ouch.

A busy thread, hitting north of 1200 comments. It was throw back night, I think, with DBacksSkins passing the 200 mark, and Clefo in second as the only other commenter to reach triple digits, with imstillhungry95 just one shy of the century mark. We also heard from AJV19, AZDBACKR, Airwave, AzRattler, CaptainCanuck, Circa4life, Fangdango, Gravity, GuruB, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Lozenge, Majabe, Marc Fournier, PR151, Paper Clip, Rockkstarr12, Scottyyy, The so-called Beautiful, asteroid, azshadowwalker, blank_38, coldblueAZ, dbacks79, hotclaws, kishi, luckycc, onedotfive, piratedan7, porty99, preston.salisbury, rd33, snakecharmer, soco, and txzona.

Comment of the Night goes to our most recommended comment, this one about Don Mattingly's discussion of last night's HBP-capades. I didn't check who wrote it, but I'm certain they're a fine, handsome, intelligent, witty, and all-around excellent human being.



Oh, Mattingly

You’re right. That ball was chasing Puig. It was actually a homing missile targeting his DNA. It was an assassin droid, and you thwarted it. And then settled things by deciding to throw punches, you freaking morons.

Even if you're right, that would be one plus one plus two plus one, not "one plus two plus one plus one."

by kishi on Jun 12, 2013 | 8:14 PM reply 9 recs

So, no retaliation for Tuesday's games- keep an eye out next series, though- and the DBacks pick up a series win as they head down to San Diego for the off-day tomorrow. Not a bad outing, even if we couldn't pick up Corbin's tenth W. We'll reset that and see if we have any more luck in his next start.