Another pitchers’ duel swung on late-game magic, with Matt Kemp again delivering against Archie Bradley. He ambushed the first-pitch fastball for a walk-off two-run double. With the 3-2 win, the Dodgers moved into sole possession of first place in the National League West.
While Caleb Ferguson managed to work his way through traffic in the eighth, he surrendered a go-ahead home run to Daniel Descalso to lead off the ninth. The home run was his fourth this season against the Dodgers.
Walks by Alex Verdugo and Max Muncy in the bottom of the ninth led to Kemp’s heroics after Kiké Hernandez advanced both runners on a sacrifice bunt.
The walk-off win picked up what was a stellar outing from Walker Buehler. He not only matched a career high with nine strikeouts, he singlehandedly tied the Diamondbacks’ hit output. Buehler’s two-out single in the third inning broke up Clay Buchholz’s perfect game.
Buehler added a second base hit to right field in the fifth. That came two batters after Max Muncy led off the inning with his 31st home run of the season, breaking a scoreless tie.
As for his work on the mound, Buehler stranded a walk and single in the first inning, and otherwise mowed his way through the Diamondbacks lineup. He struck out the side on 13 pitches in the fourth inning, giving him eight punchouts to that point.
Although he fought a high pitch count early on, Buehler benefitted from quick innings to provide the Dodgers with some length and match a career high with nine strikeouts. Paul Goldschmidt, on a pair of singles, represented the Diamondbacks’ only hits off the young righty.
Buehler was removed from the game with out in the seventh and responsible for runners on first and second base. Ryan Madson’s debut with the Dodgers got off on the wrong note as he promptly issued a four-pitch walk to load the bases.
Madson was nearly rescued by Cody Bellinger on a remarkable throw to home plate after catching a fly ball. However, the would-be inning-ending double play was overturned after the Diamondbacks challenged the call, and the sacrifice fly tied the game.
