D-backs 8, Dodgers 0: Crush the Dodgers.

The first inning wasn't pretty for the Diamondbacks, but they made it work for them. After the offense got sat down in order for the top of the inning, Robbie Ray had struggles of his own in the bottom of the inning. Justin Ruggiano singled to lead things off for the Dodgers, and Howie Kendrick reached and moved Ruggiano to second on a rare fielding error by Goldschmidt. After that, Adrien Gonzalez grounded out to Goldy for the first out, but the runners advanced to second and third, one out. A strike out of Scott Van Slyke and an intentional walk to Corey Seager loaded the bases with two outs. However, Ray got A.J. Ellis to pop out to end the inning without giving up a run. Ugly but effective.

Both teams wasted runners in the second inning. For Los Angeles, it came courtesy of a lead off single from Chris Heisey, who made it to second thanks to an Alex Wood sac bunt. Arizona wasted theirs in typical Diamondback way, with Yasmany Tomas getting a two out single and getting thrown out trying to take second.

In the fourth, things started to look up for the Diamondbacks. Nick Ahmed lead the inning off with his 17th double of the season. Chris Owings bunted him over to third, and A.J. Pollock brought him home with a ground out to short stop. Not a flashy way to score a run, but effective.

Meanwhile, Robbie Ray was being very effective. He allowed a runner in both the third and fourth innings, but nothing came of either of them. He followed that up with a 1-2-3 fifth inning that bought him a rare ticket into the sixth inning. He made good use of the opportunity getting, sitting L.A. down in order again, to finish off his night.

Alex Wood was also rolling for most of the night. He too had back-to-back, 1-2-3, his coming in the fifth and sixth innings. However, his night came to a quick end in the seventh. After getting Owings out thanks to a replay overturned call, he gave up a home run to Pollock, and that was it. Chris Hatcher came in and then immediately gave up a home run of his own to Paul Goldschmidt, giving the Dbacks a 3-0 lead. However, that was all for them in the inning, as Hatcher then got Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Tomas to strike out on a grand total of eight pitches between the two of them.

Andrew Chafin came in to replace Ray for the seventh, and added to the ugly-but-effective innings for the night. He gave up two walks to the bottom of the Dodgers order, but thanks to another sterling Nick Ahmed and Chris Owings and a double play, he got out of it without any damage. However, on that play, Nick Ahmed seemed to hurt himself in some way and was removed from the game. It was later reported that he left the game due to a "jammed lower back". We'll see how this affects him going forward.

The Dbacks kept up the pressure in the ninth. Pollock got things started with a single, and Goldschmidt kept it going, hitting a single for a perfect hit and run which sent A.J. to third. Salty just blooped one into the outfield to score A.J. and extend the lead. Inciarte kept it going by loading the bases on a soft infield single, still with no outs. David Peralta grounded into a fielder's choice, which allowed L.A. to get the out at home. However, he hustled it out to prevent the double play and keep the bases loaded. A passed ball scored another, and then with runners on second and third, Brandon Drury hit his first big league home run to put the Dbacks up by eight. That was more than enough, and Josh Collmenter came on to put the Dodgers to bed in the bottom of the ninth

Source: FanGraphs

God Emperor: Robbie Ray, 36.2%

His Chosen One: A.J. Pollock, 16.5%

Court Jester: Chris Owings, -5.9

A decent GDT, considering the point we are at in the season. 240 comments split between 16 Pitters. I lead the way with 40 comments, with freeland177 and JoeCB1991 right behind with 38 and 31 respectively. All present were:

AzRattler, Dbackguy, GuruB, Jets Mets Devils Nets 15, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Makakilo, MrMrrbi, NumberOneIanKennedyFan31, asteroid, bbtng, freeland1787, gamepass, hotclaws, imstillhungry95, onedotfive

I'm going to give CotN to freeland for his comment after Drury hit his homerun:

Drury has graduated from the Paul Goldschmidt School of Murdering Dodger Pitching

Proud Member of:
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by freeland1787 on Sep 22, 2015 | 9:59 PM ↩reply ⋆ unrec (5) ⚙actions

With tonight's win, the Dbacks assure themselves of at least a series split, with the chance to win, and then maybe sweep, starting tomorrow. However, the path to the series win lies through Zack Grienke and Clayton Kershaw, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. Join us tomorrow to see!