The Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers each were the beneficiaries of strange sequences before Chase Utley pushed insurance runs across with a double in the eighth inning of a 6-3 victory.
Patrick Corbin held the Dodgers without a hit until Chris Taylor led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a single. As a team they were hitless in seven plate appearances with the bases loaded during the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
Yet during that stretch the Dodgers scored — were gifted — four runs by the Arizona Diamondbacks. They scratched on a Corbin wild pitch in the fourth inning. He struck out Austin Barnes to limit the damage and keep the game tied.
In the fifth, Corbin retired Kiké Hernandez and Matt Kemp to leave the bases full. With Fernando Salas on the mound in the sixth inning and the bases again full, Kyle Farmer’s sacrifice fly gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.
Andrew Chafin relieved Salas, only to walk pinch-hitter Max Muncy. In came Silvino Bracho who hit Chris Taylor with a pitch, bringing in a run. Bracho then uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Yasiel Puig to score.
It wasn’t until the eighth inning that the Dodgers had a hit that produced a run. Utley, batting for Scott Alexander, hit a two-run double to the left-center field wall. Up to that point the Dodgers were just 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
Their only hit in those situations was Puig’s single in the sixth that was hit too sharply to left field, requiring Grandal to hold at third base. Puig went 3-for-4 with two runs scored in his first game since being activated off the 10-day disabled list.
Los Angeles finished 2-for-12 with men in scoring position and left nine on base. The Diamondbacks opened the scoring behind Nick Ahmed’s inside-the-park home run in the first inning.
