The Los Angeles Dodgers began their final series before the All-Star break with a 5-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, marking a first defeat in eight head-to-head meetings this season. The Diamondbacks also ended a nine-game losing streak at Dodger Stadium.
With Clayton Kershaw on the 10-day injured list due to left forearm inflammation, David Price started the Dodgers’ second bullpen game in the past three days and turned in three scoreless innings.
Price wasn’t overly sharp as he worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning, stranded another in the second and two more in the third. Kershaw’s injury and Trevor Bauer remaining on administrative leave is likely going to result in Price joining the starting rotation moving forward.
The Dodgers took a lead on AJ Pollock’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the third, but an error and bad luck led to that slipping away. In a second inning of work in his MLB debut, Darien Nuñez faced some trouble when Nick Ahmed reached on a chopper that went under Justin Turner’s glove for a two-base error.
Two batters later, Eduardo Escobar got just enough of an elevated fastball as his drive to right field hit off the top of the short wall and carried into the stands for a go-ahead home run.
An error on Max Muncy put two on with one out in the seventh inning and Joe Kelly compounded that by hitting a batter to load the bases. A high chopper went for an RBI infield single
The Dodgers were primed to respond in the bottom of the fifth as Gavin Lux and Pollock opened the inning with back-to-back walks, only for nothing to come of it. L.A. put two on again in the sixth but stalled once more.
Pollock’s leadoff double in the seventh inning did lead to a run two groundouts later. However, that was as close as the Dodgers would get, and the Diamondbacks tacked on two insurance runs with a pair of bases-loaded walks in the ninth.
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