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Dbacks fall flat in 9th straight loss in LA

9 straight losses for this team in Los Angeles since their last win almost a year ago.

By Steven Burt
Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Much like the two previous games in this series, the D-backs couldn't put together a complete game when it mattered most. In the first, both the offense and pitching suffered. Yesterday, Robbie Ray and Co. pitched a wonderful game, limiting the Dodgers to only 3 runs, but the offense struggled to get anything on the board. And today was just a culmination of this entire season, with the offense supplying enough runs to win but the pitching making key mistakes and giving up a very winnable game in the series finale.

I know lots have been said about the brilliance of Paul Goldschmidt this season, but today's game showed you just how complete a hitter he has become as a professional. The one compared with Steve Balboni had 4 hits, including his 17th homer of the year and 100th of his career, in a variety of ways.

  • Single to left
  • Infield single
  • Homer to right-center
  • Double to left field corner
I mean, how to do you get him out? His first single was an inside fastball out of strike zone. The 2nd was the 6th pitch of the at-bat and a fastball down the middle. The home run was an inside pitch he drove out to right-center and the double was up and in to him. He's a hitter just reacting to whatever is being thrown to him and an absolute delight to behold.
★★
Two other players pacing the offense were A.J. Pollock and Yasmany Tomas. A.J. causing his usual destruction on the basepaths with 3 hits, including a line drive homer off Kenley Jansen to tie things up in the 9th. We talk about Goldy with good reason, but A.J. deserves just as much praise for his play of late. Sure, we missed out on Mike Trout (twice!) but A.J. is making quite the consolation prize. He's now at 139 wRC+ on the season after tonight's game, and is among the league leaders in WAR at centerfield. #VOTEPOLLOCK

Tomas has made taken his transition to right field well, going 2 for 5 and finally showing the power everyone expected him to have in the majors. After his first 3 at-bats, he had hit the ball probably 1,200 feet with just a single and homer to his credit. The single caromed sharply off the centerfield wall and held him to just a single. His second at-bat was better, with him driving a ball to the wall but Joc Pederson made a fabulous play to rob him of extra bases. It might've had the distance for a home run, but regardless he made the play and it was a harmless out. His next at-bat he made sure to put no doubt into the hit, golfing a low strike deep into left field for just his 2nd home run as a major league player. The power had to come at some point, and hopefully Tomas keeps showing us new things he can do now that he's at his natural position.

★★

The pitching sucked with Hellickson nibbling too much and walking batters before giving up dingers to P**g and Grandal. He left in the 4th with 5 earned runs allowed, good to know his previous performances were a mirage. The bullpen came on and kept things close enough for the offense to get back into things. Perez, Chafin, Delgado and Hudson went 4 1/3 innings with just 1 run given up and when the Dbacks tied things up in the 9th, Chip Hale decided to keep Hudson out there.

Was it a bad decision? I mean, not really. Hudson cruised through the 8th, using just 10 pitches to get 3 flyballs. He continued that in the 9th, with a 1-pitch ground ball from Pederson. But with Puig up, his control disappeared and he walked him and did the same with Gonzalez to put two runners on and the dangerous Howie Kendrick up. And of course he would bloop a single to right and win the game for the Dodgers.


Source: FanGraphs

noice: A.J Pollock (+27.4%), Paul Goldschmidt (+24.1%)

nice: Yasmany Tomas (+14.1)

hey that's not very nice: Jeremy Hellickson (-38.7%), Daniel Hudson (-35.2%),

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Good crowd again for a Wednesday game, unfortunately we stink at using the rec button so no comment of the day. The Diamondbacks head to San Francisco for a series with the Giants starting tomorrow so be there or be square.

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