D-backs 1, Dodgers 3: Ray Good, Offense Bad

It's tough to get excited about a team that spends more time in the news about their off-field problems than on-field performance, but that's why I get paid the big bucks to write recaps for teams looking salvage a lost season.

The D-backs had a sense of desperation to start the ballgame, of course that meant 6 pitches and 2 outs, but A.J Pollock had other ideas, walking on 4 straight pitches to put a runner on for Goldy, who immediately made them pay with a double to right field, scoring Pollock and giving the D-backs their only run of the game 1-0. Lamb flew out to Puig to end the inning.

The Dodgers answered right back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the 1st. Kendrick walked and after a strike out of Enrique Hernandez, Corey Seager lined one to right field for a double of his own to tie things up at 1-1. Unfortunately for the D-backs the Dodgers are a good team and added to their total. Justin Turner walked and a sac fly from Puig gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. Ruiz walked to put another runner on base, but whatever Rob Segedin is struck out to end the inning.

Robbie Ray was brilliant after that hiccup in the first, striking out 10 Dodgers hitters and only allowing a Puig homer to spoil his outing. He was dominant, using a blistering fastball to throw it by batters. It's easy to say, but we need more performances like this from our young starters. Sure they may struggle, but this year is an excellent way to learn on the job. 6IP, 2H, 3ER, and 12Ks from Robbie is good. There will come a day when he learns a third pitch, if that happens we might have Randy Johnson 2.0 on our hands.

The offense was pitiful the rest of the way, with multiple chances to get a runner home, but no clutch hitting to actually get the job done. With a season long futility in bringing home runners in scoring position, maybe Tony La Russa will impart some of his magic to fix it for next year.

So the D-backs lose 3-1. Brock Stewart did just enough to keep the D-backs at bay, and the extended bullpen of the Dodgers made quick work of things in the later innings to secure the victory. Onto the GameGraph.

Source: FanGraphs

Big Pimpin' - Paul Goldschmidt (15.7%)

Back Then - A.J Pollock (-19.8%)

Yep, that's about all you need to know about tonight. Off day on Thursday. Come back and hang out for the NFL kickoff, we'll have a thread going for that.