The first-place Los Angeles Dodgers entered a three-game series with the last-place Arizona Diamondbacks, but not much went as planned for the team that entered the matchup at Chase Field with baseball’s best record.
The Dodgers took the series opener, as was expected, but from there they lost the second game after blowing a three-run lead with some self-inflicted damage on a throwing error from Gavin Lux and two-run home run off Brusdar Graterol.
That set up a series rubber match on Wednesday, and it was another subpar day for the Dodgers. The offense only scored one run, which came in the eighth inning, and a throwing error by Max Muncy helped the Diamondbacks take a lead just after L.A. tied it.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was frustrated by his club’s performance, but expects them to get back to playing good baseball and he was happy with the pitching staff, via SportsNet LA:
“Up until this series, I thought we played good baseball, fundamental baseball, catching it, throwing it accurately. This series, we didn’t do a good job of that. I don’t have an answer for it. I expect it to get back to normal, but I think overall, I thought we pitched well this series but outside of that we didn’t have a good series.”
While the Dodgers didn’t play well and made three errors in the series, which included Freddie Freeman dropping a popup, Roberts gave credit to the Diamondbacks for playing competitively despite having the odds stacked against them, and their starter Zac Gallen, who allowed just two hits in six innings:
“I think the Freddie ball was a sun ball. It happens. I wouldn’t say ‘sloppy’ today. Obviously, we didn’t execute a fundamental in the eighth inning there. Everything looks sort of sluggish or sloppy when you’re not getting hits. That’s kind of how it looked today, but I think in this particular case you’ve got to give Zac credit. He threw the baseball well. Mookie looked good, Trea looked good, Freddie hit a ball hard. There was a little bit of hard contact in there, but you’ve got to give those guys credit.”
In addition to the errors, the Dodgers also made mental mistakes on the basepaths, including Chris Taylor running into a double play to end a potential rally.
Offensively, L.A. left 10 runners on base and hit into six double players across their two losses.
Dodgers may activate Kahnle for Giants series
Tommy Kahnle was recovering from Tommy John surgery at the time of signing with the Dodgers, and although he had hope for a return late in 2021, that never manifested. Kahnle subsequently was eased through Spring Training this year and began the regular season on the 10-day injured list.
The right-hander joined Low-A Rancho Cucamonga for the start of a rehab assignment earlier this month and recently joined Triple-A Oklahoma City to continue that process. Roberts said the final hurdle for Kahnle to clear is pitching on back-to-back nights, which began Wednesday, and that could lead to being activated for next week’s series against the San Francisco Giants.
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