The Los Angeles Dodgers jumped out to an early lead against the Arizona Diamondbacks, only to suffer a loss for a second time in as many games. There wasn’t a nine-run inning this time around, with the Diamondbacks instead teeing off on Kenta Maeda.
Kiké Hernandez, who homered off Robbie Ray when the left-hander faced the Dodgers on April 17, opened the game on Saturday with a solo home run down the left-field line. Ray quickly settled in, retiring the next three batters faced and ending the inning by striking out Yasiel Puig.
Maeda greatly struggled in the bottom of the first after striking out A.J. Pollock. David Peralta appeared to hit a home run to center field but replay review overturned it to a double. Any frustration was erased in emphatic fashion.
Jake Lamb and Yasmany Tomas combined for back-to-back home runs, giving the Diamondbacks a 3-1 lead before Maeda could get out of the inning. Austin Barnes doubled with two outs in the second, and Brett Eibner reached on an infield single.
However, Maeda failed to aid his cause. Ray collected his second base hit against the Dodgers in as many games in the bottom of the second. Pollock doubled to put two runners in scoring position for Peralta.
He grounded to the right side of the infield, where Hernandez was playing as part of a shift. He gambled by throwing home and it worked in his and the Dodgers’ favor. Despite leaving multiple pitches to Paul Goldschmidt over the plate, Maeda induced a flyout to escape the jam.
Ray ran into some trouble in the third, as a Hernandez leadoff walk was followed by back-to-back singles from Eibner and Justin Turner. Turner’s RBI base hit extended his hitting streak to eight games and trimmed the Diamondbacks’ lead to 3-2.
The inning had the makings of more for the Dodgers, but Puig grounded into a double play on a 3-0 count, and Scott Van Slyke flied out on the first pitch he saw. Any positive carryover from a 1-2-3 third inning was rendered moot when Maeda surrendered a two-run homer to Chris Herrmann with nobody out in the fourth.
Ray induced Turner into an inning-ending double play in the fifth after allowing a one-out single to Chris Taylor. Tomas tagged Maeda for his second home run of the game, extending the Diamondbacks’ lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the fifth.
Puig and Van Slyke hit back-to-back singles to give the Dodgers two on with nobody out in the sixth. Ray struck out Pederson a third time on the night, then allowed an RBI double to Barnes. Tom Wilhelmsen replaced Ray, retired pinch-hitter Corey Seager, but then walked pinch-hitter Andrew Toles to load the bases.
Adrian Gonzalez hit for Hernandez and kept the inning alive with an RBI infield single. However, that was only with the Dodgers successfully challenging the out call. J.J. Hoover took over for the Diamondbacks and walked Taylor to bring another run in before ending the inning by striking out Turner.
While Chris Hatcher retired the side in order in the sixth, he struggled and ran into trouble in the seventh. After allowing a leadoff double to Peralta, Hathcer walked Goldschmidt. Van Slyke’s fielding error loaded the bases with nobody out, and Hatcher then walked Tomas to bring in a run.
Chris Owings lined a two-run single left field, giving the Diamondbacks a 9-5 lead through seven innings. Ross Stripling didn’t fare much better in the eighth, allowing consecutive hits of a single, double and two-run single.
The Dodgers fell, 11-5, in what was their fourth consecutive loss to the Diamondbacks.
