Hyun-Jin Ryu did nothing to quell some concerns the Los Angeles Dodgers have over potential fatigue as he was knocked around by the Arizona Diamondbacks in an 11-5 loss. It snapped the Dodgers’ modest two-game winning streak and gave them a fourth loss in the past seven games.
Ryu allowed seven earned runs in a second consecutive start and third time overall this year. Beginning with a rough outing against the Atlanta Braves, Ryu has now allowed a combined 25 hits and 18 runs over 14.2 innings pitched.
While his night at Chase Field ultimately took a turn for the worse, Ryu was in complete control until the fourth inning. He retired the first seven batters faced and worked around Carson Kelly’s one-out single in the third up to that point.
The Diamondbacks’ second baserunner of the game came with Tim Locastro getting hit by a pitch to start the fourth. A blooper into center field put two on with nobody out, and a cross-up resulted in a wild pitch that allowed Locastro and Eduardo Escobar to advance.
Wilmer Flores’ booming two-run double cut into the Dodgers’ deficit, and Nick Ahmed’s line drive to right field turned Cody Bellinger around before dropping for a game-tying double.
The decision to intentionally walk Kelly backfired as the Diamondbacks sent a pinch-hitter up for Merrill Kelly. Ryu got a cutter in on Ildemaro Vargas’ hands but he fought it off to flare a go-ahead, RBI single into shallow right field.
After the Dodgers pulled even in the top of the fifth, Ryu failed to make it through the bottom half of the inning. Consecutive two-out singles were followed by a two-run double from Adam Jones and Ahmed’s RBI single.
Ryu was removed at 4.2 innings, marking his third-shortest start of the season. If there was a silver lining to be found for the left-hander, six of the 10 hits he allowed were soft contact.
Escobar’s three-run home run off Joe Kelly in the sixth inning blew the game open, and Flores added an RBI double in the eighth for good measure.
Before matters began to spiral out of the control, it was the Dodgers who jumped out to a lead with Joc Pederson and Justin Turner serving as the catalysts.
Pederson’s double to open the game was followed by productive outs as the Dodgers manufactured a run. Matt Beaty’s grounder advanced Pederson to third base, and Turner’s sacrifice fly drove him home.
Merrill Kelly lost his command in the third inning and issued back-to-back walks. Turner cashed that in with an RBI double down the left-field line that extended his hitting streak to five games. Turner’s season high for a hitting streak is seven games, which he has accomplished twice.
In his first game at Chase Field as a member of the Dodgers, A.J. Pollock had one hit in three at-bats and picked up an RBI when he drew a bases-loaded walk in the third inning. L.A. otherwise went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight.
Their final run came on Turner’s solo home run with two outs in the ninth inning.
