The Los Angeles Dodgers came out of clinching the National League West with a lineup that didn’t include Freddie Freeman for the first time this season and several regulars sat out as well in a 5-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 10 innings.
Home runs from Daulton Varsho and Corbin Carroll had the Diamondbacks leading 2-0 through two innings. That was all Michael Grove gave up over his five innings of work in the spot start. It marked an improvement from Grove’s last start and the first time in his young career that he completed five innings at the Major League level.
Grove keeping the Diamondbacks off the board after the home runs helped the Dodgers mount a rally behind their own long balls.
They pulled even behind back-to-back home runs from Will Smith and Trayce Thompson in the fourth inning. Smith’s traveled an estimated 465 feet, which surpassed Austin Barnes for the longest Dodgers home run this season.
The Dodgers struggled to generate much offense otherwise, outside of Chris Taylor going 2-for-4 from the leadoff spot and reaching a third time on an error.
Their bullpen did its part after Grove, though Evan Phillips ran into trouble in the ninth inning. Jake McCarthy led off with a single and immediately stole second base. He then advanced to third with two outs and attempted a walk-off steal on Barnes’ throw back to the mound.
Phillips fielded the high throw and quickly got it back to Barnes for the tag to send the game into extra innings.
Reyes Moronta entered for the Diamondbacks and was let down by his defense after fielding Hanser Alberto’s sacrifice bunt attempt. The Diamondbacks didn’t have anyone covering first base, runners at the corners with nobody out.
The Dodgers only got one run out of it on a wild pitch, and Craig Kimbrel gave up a walk-off, three-run home run to Sergio Alcantara with two outs in the bottom of the 10th.
The Dodgers fell to 4-8 in extra innings this season.
Dodgers magic number for NL record
With the New York Mets losing, the Dodgers’ magic number for the No. 1 seed in the National League was still trimmed to 10.
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