The Los Angeles Dodgers were one out away from extending their winning streak to three games when Kenley Jansen suddenly combusted and allowed the Arizona Diamondbacks to send the game into extra innings.
Jansen walked Paul Goldschmidt with two outs, then put A.J. Pollock on base. It was the first regular-season game Jansen walked two batters since Oct. 1, 2016. He walked four (one intentional) in Game 5 of the 2016 National League Division Series.
Chris Owings jumped on the first pitch he saw, clocked at 91 mph and down the plate without any movement, for a game-tying three-run home run. The homer was the second Jansen surrendered in as many appearances.
Of greater concern for the Dodgers, Jansen was seen in the dugout rubbing his right shoulder for several seconds. He’s maintained health is not to blame for the dip in velocity or subpar performance.
One night after throwing 21 pitches, Wilmer Font entered in the 11th as the last reliever available to the Dodgers. Font put forth a valiant effort, before succumbing in the 15th inning.
Jake Lamb singled with one out and raced around to score on Nick Ahmed’s RBI double to the left-center field gap. Pinch-hitter Jeff Mathis then lined a hanging curveball into the same part of the field to give the Diamondbacks an 8-7 walk-off win.
Font flirted with disaster in the bottom of the 14th, when Goldschmidt and A.J. Pollock each hit a drive to deep right field. Yasiel Puig tracked down Goldschmidt’s at the wall, then caught Pollock’s on the warning track and fired a dart to get Ketel Marte at second base on his tag attempt.
Batting for the second time in the game, Font’s sacrifice bunt put Cody Bellinger in scoring position with two outs. Bellinger just beat the throw home to score on Chase Utley’s slap single to left field that gave the Dodgers a 7-6 lead.
Prior to Jansen blowing the save opportunity, there was plenty of reason for optimism. Heading into Monday’s game, Kyle Farmer, Logan Forsythe and Joc Pederson were the only position players without a hit this season.
In his second start in as many games, Pederson was in center field and leading off for the first time this season. He quickly snapped an 0-for-6 drought by going the other way for a ringing double.
The extra-base hit marked the start of a night for Taijuan Walker that resembled his last time seeing the Dodgers in Game 1 of the 2017 National League Division Series. Corey Seager followed Pederson with an RBI single and Yasmani Grandal later clubbed a two-run homer to right-center field.
Whereas Walker only went one inning in the postseason start against the Dodgers, he settled in to get through five innings, with only the three runs allowed. He struck out four and issued a pair of walks.
That allowed the Diamondbacks to steadily chip away at their deficit, and each time it came with two outs. After retiring the first two batters faced in the bottom of the first inning, Hyun-Jin Ryu surrendered a double to Goldschmidt.
Like Pederson, it was Goldschmidt’s first hit of the season after starting the year 0-for-8. A.J. Pollock tacked on an RBI double before Ryu managed to get out of the inning. Then in the third, Ryu walked Chris Owings to load the bases with two outs.
He followed that by putting Jake Lamb on base on four pitches. In the fourth, Ketel Marte’s second triple of the night tied it and knocked Ryu out of the game. Pedro Baez retired Goldschmidt to strand the go-ahead runner at third base, and proceeded to throw a 1-2-3 fifth inning.
Forsythe, who’d previously singled in the fourth inning for his first hit of 2018, broke the tie in the sixth with a solo home run. The next inning, Grandal improved to 3-for-3 by doubling to right field. He also drew two walks and finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.
Cody Bellinger battled back from an 0-2 count to force it full before lining an RBI base hit into center field in the seventh. Pederson gave the Dodgers a third consecutive inning with a run scored by going with a pitch for a two-out single in the eighth that brought Chris Taylor home.
Believed to be insurance at the time, Pederson’s RBI wound up ensuring the Dodgers didn’t lose in walk-off fashion when Owings hit a home run off Jansen.
While Ryu became the first Dodgers starter to truly struggle this season, the bullpen produced more of the same — until Jansen’s collapse. Baez, Scott Alexander, Tony Cingrani, J.T. Chargois and Josh Fields combined for 4.1 shutout innings while allowing just two hits and notching five strikeouts.
The Dodgers finished the game without any bench players or relievers available in what was the longest game in Chase Field history — five hours and 45 minutes.
