The Los Angeles Dodgers suffered a long, grueling defeat to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday evening after the bullpen squandered multiple leads.
With a three-run lead in hand, Kenley Jansen yielded a game-tying, three-run home run to Chris Owings with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Jansen’s blown save ultimately extended the game to 15 innings.
For Jansen, it was a second consecutive outing this season in which he gave up a homer. He once again struggled to register a high velocity but insisted afterward that he’s healthy.
The Dodgers consequently burned through their entire bench and bullpen in the marathon. Wilmer Font, on no days rest, logged 4.1 innings and was tabbed with a loss after surrendering two runs in the 15th frame.
The game nearly took six hours to complete, as it carried over into Tuesday morning. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts revealed that if the game went to a potential 16th inning, Kenta Maeda was set to play sthe outfield and a position player would’ve been sent to the mound, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
By the 15th, Roberts had used his entire bullpen and bench. He said if the Dodgers hadn’t taken a 7-6 lead in the top of the inning, they would have used a position player to pitch and put Maeda, their best shagger, in the outfield.
Likewise, the Diamondbacks would’ve deployed a position player to the mound in the event of a 16th frame. That was going to be Jeff Mathis had he not delivered a pinch-hit walk-off single.
Although Roberts did not specify, it’s widely presumed Yasiel Puig would’ve been tabbed to pitch if the game extended to a 16th inning or beyond.
Needless to say, both clubs will be a bit shorthanded in the second of a three-game series at Chase Field. Clayton Kershaw makes his second start of the season and attempt to give the Dodgers some length to preserve the bullpen.
