The Arizona Diamondbacks took advantage of Luis Avilan in the seventh inning to break a tie and came away with a 3-1 victory to extend their winning streak to a franchise-best 13 games. Having already clinched the season series, the Diamondbacks completed a second series sweep of the Dodgers. The sweep at Dodger Stadium was their first since May 6-8, 2013.
Upon following Josh Fields’ scoreless sixth inning, Avilan allowed a leadoff single to Ketel Marte and go-ahead double to Adam Rosales. David Peralta’s single made it three consecutive hits without Avilan recording an out.
He intentionally walked J.D. Martinez to load the bases with two outs. Setting up a left-on-left matchup backfired, as Avilan grazed Daniel Descalso with a pitch to bring a run in.
Josh Ravin replaced Avilan and managed to put out the fire, but it made no difference as the Dodgers failed to generate any offense over the final three innings.
Just like Rich Hill and Hyun-Jin Ryu before him, Kenta Maeda responded with a strong outing in a second consecutive start against the Diamondbacks. Whereas Maeda allowed a career-high seven earned runs his last time out, he matched a season high with eight strikeouts.
A single in the first inning, fielding error in the second and walk in the fourth allowed the Diamondbacks to put their leadoff man in three of the first four innings. The error was costly in the second, though Maeda nearly stranded A.J. Pollock at second base.
Instead, Taijuan Walker helped his cause with an RBI double to pull the Diamondbacks even. By Cody Bellinger beating out a double play in the bottom of the first, Chris Taylor, who’d led off with a double, scored from third base.
The Dodgers taking a 1-0 lead snapped the Diamondbacks’ streak of consecutive innings without trailing at 98. It was the only run Walker allowed in his six innings of work. The Dodgers managed four hits off the righty and drew three walks.
Jorge De La Rosa, Archie Bradley and Fernando Rodney combined for three hitless innings to wrap up the win that left Dodger Stadium in silence. With the loss, the Dodgers were mathematically eliminated from matching the MLB record of 116 wins that’s shared by the 1906 Chicago Cubs and 2001 Seattle Mariners.
What’s more, the Dodgers are now on a season-worst six-game losing streak.
