The Los Angeles Dodgers were largely in control Monday night, but the Arizona Diamondbacks mounted a two-out rally against Brandon McCarthy, and eventually gutted out a 4-2 victory to split the wraparound series at Dodger Stadium.
McCarthy’s night began on an odd note as he allowed back-to-back singles to A.J. Pollock and David Peralta in the first inning. However, Pollock was caught stealing prior to Peralta’s hit, and he himself was thrown out on a stolen base attempt.
Paul Goldschmidt walked but was stranded when Jake Lamb grounded out. Robbie Ray issued a pair of walks in the bottom of the first, which the Dodgers were unable to capitalize on. A Rob Segedin single and Scott Van Slyke walk put two on in the bottom of the second.
McCarthy’s sacrifice bunt resulted in a bases-loaded situation when Daniel Descalsso dropped the throw at first base. Logan Forsythe’s sacrifice fly gave the Dodgers an early lead. McCarthy’s string of consecutive batters retired was snapped at eight when he walked Goldschmidt with one out in the fourth.
Nothing came of it for the Diamondbacks, however, as Lamb and Yasmany Tomas both struck out to end the inning. Kiké Hernandez led off the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run that stayed just fair down the left-field line. The homer was Hernandez’s first since Sept. 18, 2016.
Ray responded by striking out the next three batters faced. With two outs in the fifth and a runner on first base, Ray’s soft single to right-center field sparked a rally.
Pollock flared an RBI base hit into center, and Peralta’s slow grounder carried into center for a game-tying single. McCarthy limited the damage by striking out Goldschmidt. His night came to an end after five innings, during which McCarthy allowed the two runs and had eight strikeouts.
Ray got Forsythe swinging and caught Corey Seager and Justin Turner looking to strike out the side a second consecutive inning. Grant Dayton was the first Dodgers reliever to enter the game, and he stranded a leadoff walk in the sixth.
Chris Hatcher took over in the seventh and ran into trouble after allowing consecutive two-out singles. He managed to escape the jam by getting Goldschmidt to fly out. J.J. Hoover allowed a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Adrian Gonzalez, then proceeded to strike out Joc Pederson, Forsythe and Seager.
For Seager, it was his fourth strikeout of the game. He’d last struck out that many times in a single game on July 6, 2016. Hatcher’s luck ran out in the eighth, as Lamb jumped on the first pitch he saw and hit a go-ahead solo home run to right field. The homer was the first the Dodgers bullpen allowed this season.
Conversely, Hoover proved to be an escape artist in the bottom of the eighth. Turner hit a leadoff double, only to be stranded by Puig, Yasmani Grandal and Hernandez. Hatcher was removed after allowing a two-out single in the ninth.
Luis Avilan entered and promptly gave up an RBI triple to Peralta. Fernando Rodney retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth to earn a second consecutive save.
