Diamondbacks 4, Dodgers 7: Silver linings, but mostly dark clouds

Archie Bradley started the game off incredibly well. Through the first four innings, he recorded six strikeouts, no hits, and only one walk. His curveball was, to quote Greg Shulte on the radio side, "mesmerizing" and according to Nick P. his fastball was sitting at 94 MPH consistently. At one point, he sat down 12 in a row, and during that stretch was when he recorded all those strikeouts. It was looking like he was on his way to an easy win, especially if the Dbacks’ offense did their job.

They weren’t lighting the world on fire, but they were doing a solid enough job. They got off to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning, thanks to a Jean Segura, lead off double, followed by an RBI single from Jake Lamb. However, Lamb did get thrown out trying to take second, thanks to a good throw from right fielder Trayce Thompson.

In the third, they added an insurance run thanks to a single-walk-single combo from Segura, Lamb, and Paul Goldschmidt. Things were looking really good.

And then they weren’t anymore. Archie lead off the fifth with his seventh strikeout of the game. That brought Joc Pederson to the plate. He broke up Bradley’s no hitter and shut out in one swing, launching a solo home run to cut the lead in half. Then it seemed that Bradley completely lost his control, which had been good up to that point. He walked Grandal and Kendrick, who were then moved to third and second respectively on a Kenta Madea sacrifice bunt. Enter Chase Utley. Up to this point, all he had managed to do was strike out. That changed. He hit a two run single to erase what was left of the Dbacks’ lead, and give the Dodgers a one run lead of their own. 3-2 Dodgers

In the bottom of the inning, the offense did tie it up again. Michael Bourn singled to get things started. Segura followed that up with a soft tapper back to the mound. Madea threw the ball into the outfield, allowing Bourn to score. However, Segura took and rounded second base, anticipating a throw home. Thompson threw behind him, and they were able to apply the tag before Segura could scurry back, effectively ending the rally.

Somewhat surprisingly, to me at least, Bradley went back out there for the sixth. Justin Turner hit the first pitch he threw in the inning for a tie-breaking home run. Adrian Gonzalez and Trayce Thompson struck out, Bradley’s eighth and ninth of the night. That lead to a rematch between him and Pederson. It ended in exactly the same way, a solo shot, extending the Dodgers’ lead. That was it for Bradley. Zac Curtis was brought in to finish the inning off. 5-3 Dodgers

Bottom of the sixth saw Madea taken out of the game due to injury. Goldschmidt lead off the inning, and lined a ball directly into Madea’s leg. He left the game, and it was later reported that despite as hard as the hit was, he only had a contusion. He should be fine going forward.

Arizona added another run in the bottom of the sixth, but Curtis gave up two in the seventh, effectively ended the game. 7-4 Dodgers.

Some silver linings to focus on . Bradley did start off well, and racked up some pretty strike outs. Segura ended the night with four hits, and Goldy extended his hitting streak. However, some weaknesses we already knew about were exposed even more. Bradley struggles with walks and limiting the damage caused by them. Other than a small handful of pitchers, we don't have a whole lot going on in the bullpen. Those are going to be a couple of the (many) things going forward that the Diamondbacks will have to solve if they want to compete. It will be interesting to see if and how they finally make those changes.

Source: FanGraphs

Unicorns and Rainbows: Jean Segura, 18.2%

Snails and Puppy Dog tails.: Archie Bradley, -37.4%

No red comments, so no CotN. 362 comments in the gameday thread at time of writing. Jackwriter and blue bulldog lead the way with 50 and 42 respectively. All present were

GuruB, I suppose I'm a Pessimist, Indedave, Jackwriter, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, JoelPre, Makakilo,MrMrrbi, Oldenschoole, Sprankton, Xerostomia, aldma, asteroid, bluebulldog, catbat, coldblueAZ, datr22,david.munter, dbacks_in_vegas, hotclaws, imstillhungry95, noblevillain, onedotfive, piratedan7, rd33

Join us again tomorrow for the rubber game at 12:40 Arizona time. Kershaw vs. Corbin, so it should be a good game.