Familiar circumstances and troubles led to the Los Angeles Dodgers squandering yet another lead to the Arizona Diamondbacks, who came from behind to claw out a 4-3 win. The loss marked the Dodgers’ fourth in row and seventh in eight games with the Diamondbacks this season.
On Tuesday night it was Adam Liberatore who couldn’t back Clayton Kershaw. He entered in the bottom of the seventh and promptly allowed consecutive singles to Deven Marrero and John Ryan Murphy.
Daniel Descalso’s two-run triple gave the Diamondbacks a decided lead. Although the Dodgers trailed at the time, Kenley Jansen got his first action since April 25 and worked around a base hit and walk in the eighth inning to keep the Dodgers within a run.
It allowed the Dodgers to bring the go-ahead run to the plate with two outs in the ninth inning. Chris Taylor walked and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, but Brad Boxberger struck out Joc Pederson to ensure the Diamondbacks remained the only club without a blown save this season.
Before handing the ball over to the bullpen, Kershaw allowed a pair of solo home runs over his six innings of work. The first was to A.J. Pollock, marking his fourth in the last two nights. The other was to Christian Walker, giving him just two hits in 14 games this season.
Aside from the longballs, Kershaw otherwise avoided trouble. Chris Owings’ two-out single in the fourth was followed by a walk but Kershaw struck out Alex Avila to strand both runners. Then after Descalso and Nick Ahmed hit back-to-back singles in the fifth inning, Paul Goldschmidt and Pollock failed to tie or give the Diamondbacks a lead.
Kershaw punctuated a 1-2-3 sixth inning, his last of the night, with a curveball that froze Avila for strike three.
He didn’t receive much run support, though Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy allowed Kershaw to exit with a lead. Bellinger’s two-run home run in the third inning put the Dodgers ahead, and Muncy’s RBI groundout in the fourth extended the lead.
Walks in the seventh inning by Joc Pederson and Yasmani Grandal put the Dodgers in position to tack on insurance but Bellinger struck out to end the inning.
