The Los Angeles Dodgers fell to 4-8 in the wake of another disappointing loss at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday. It was the club’s 10th consecutive regular season loss to their divisional foe, dating back to last season.
Kenta Maeda showed rust in his first start in nearly two weeks, as the Diamondbacks, at one point, jumped out to a 7-2 lead. But Los Angeles fought back and nearly pulled off a comeback victory that was reminiscent of 2017.
They came up just one run short when it was all said and done. Despite the end result, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts praised his club’s overall effort and was especially happy that the Diamondbacks were forced to tap into their bullpen, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“There were at-bats we put together, there was some luck that extended an inning,” Roberts said. “But I think to get Archie [Bradley] in the game and throw a lot of pitches was a good thing for us. To get the closer [Brad Boxberger] in a game we seemingly were out of was another positive, and our club showed some life.”
As Roberts pointed out, a silver lining to takeaway from the loss was the Dodgers’ ability to tee off on Archie Bradley, one of the better relievers in all of baseball. The club reached base five times against him in 1.1 innings, while adding two runs to the scoreboard as well.
That moved the Diamondbacks to deploy closer Brad Boxberger in the ninth inning, despite sporting a five-run lead just two innings earlier — an unthinkable scenario for both clubs.
Having forced Bradley and Boxberger to throw stressful innings in a game that once seemed wrapped up by the seventh frame could certainly pay dividends for the Dodgers with two games remaining in the series.
The Dodgers send left-hander Rich Hill to the mound on Saturday as they look to snap a two-game losing streak in the process.
