A curious decision to leave Zack Greinke in for the bottom of the eighth bit the Arizona Diamondbacks as his first pitch of the inning was clubbed by Justin Turner for a game-winning home run. The 3-2 victory pulled the Los Angeles Dodgers back within one game of first place in the National League West.
Kenley Jansen recovered from some of his recent struggles as he worked around Paul Godlschmidt’s one-out double to close the game out. The save was Jansen’s first since returning from the 10-day disabled list.
Hyun-Jin Ryu held his own against Greinke but the pitchers’ duel was going in favor of the Diamondbacks for much of the night.
The difference through seven innings was Goldschmidt digging out a low fastball for a two-run home run in the first inning that was slicing down the right-field line but stayed fair. It was all Ryu allowed over his season-high tying seven innings of work.
He retired six in a row after the home run, and worked around Steven Souza Jr.’s one-out single in the third inning when that streak was snapped. Eduardo Escobar’s base hit in the fourth was followed by an inning-ending double play.
Ryu then set the Diamondbacks down in order in each the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to keep the Dodgers in the game. He exited having allowed the two runs on four hits, while notching five strikeouts without issuing any walks.
It appeared for much of the night that he would be let down by the Dodgers’ familiar woes with runners in scoring position again rearing its head, as they finished 1-for-6. One particularly costly instance was stranding Cody Bellinger after he led off second inning with a hustle double.
The Dodgers did manufacture a run in the third when Yasiel Puig led off with a single. He was moved into scoring position on Ryu’s sacrifice bunt, then took third on a wild pitch and scored on Joc Pederson’s single that trimmed the Diamondbacks’ lead in half. Turner followed with a base hit of his own, but both he and Pederson were stranded by Manny Machado and Bellinger.
Los Angeles worked a bit of a balancing act in their approach against Greinke; at times showing plenty of patience and in other cases looking to attack early. One such instance came in the fifth inning after Greinke grazed Turner with a pitch.
Representing the go-ahead run, Machado swung at Greinke’s first offering — a belt-high fastball — but harmlessly popped it up to end the inning. Although Ryu spent the inning with a helmet and bat in the dugout, Kiké Hernandez pinch-hit for him with two outs in the seventh.
The decision paid off as he lifted a game-tying home run to right-center field.
