Sedona Red Recap: Dodgers long balls put end to D-backs’ winning ways

PHOENIX — After struggling for so long in their own backyard, perhaps the Arizona Diamondbacks had finally solved their issues and turned the corner at Chase Field.

Nope.

For the 24th time in 37 home games, the D-backs fell victim to the visiting opponent.

This time, it was the L.A. Dodgers, who hit four home runs on their way to a 7-4 victory, evening the series at a game apiece and ending their three-game losing streak. At the same time, Los Angeles snapped the D-backs’ season-best three-game home winning streak all before an announced crowd of 23,458 on Tuesday.

Joc Pederson hit two home runs while Justin Turner and Chase Utley also went deep. Utley’s was a two-run shot, part of a four-RBI effort.

It was all in support of starter Kenta Maeda, who made it three wins in his last four outings.

Maeda, however, left the game early with a right knee contusion after being struck by a Paul Goldschmidt line drive in the sixth inning. X-rays were negative, according to the Dodgers.

Maeda (6-4) pitched 5.1 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits with a walk and six strikeouts.

Goldschmidt, Jake Lamb and Chris Herrmann each had RBI singles while Jean Segura went 4-for-4 with two runs scored.

Bradley (2-3) retired 13 of 14 to begin the game and carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning.

That’s when the wheels fell off.

Pederson homered with one out to break up the no-no and Utley added a two-out, two-run single to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.

The Dodgers struck for two more runs in the sixth inning on solo homers by Turner and Pederson that put the Dodgers back in front, this time for good, 5-3.

Bradley finished with a pitching line of 5.2 innings, five hits, five runs, three walks and nine strikeouts, the latter falling one short of a season-high.

He’s now lost each of his past three starts.

The D-backs are 4-4 on the current nine-game homestand.

THE GOOD

Two batters and 12 pitches into the game, the D-backs had a 1-0 lead. Lamb laced a single to right, scoring Segura from second base. It was his 40th RBI of the season, matching Goldschmidt for team-high honors. Unfortunately, Lamb was thrown out trying to stretch the play into a double. By the way, Segura led off the inning with a double inside the bag at third, the result of a 10-pitch at-bat. He’s now hit safely in 12 of his past 15 games.

Two innings later, Goldschmidt re-took the team-lead in RBI and handed the D-backs a 2-0 advantage. With two on and two outs in the third, Goldschmidt swung inside-out on a 90-mph fastball, grounding the ball up the middle for a base hit to score Segura from second base. Goldschmidt has now reached base safely in 19 straight games. Segura, who had a seven-pitch at-bat, had previously singled, recording his third straight multi-hit game.

Coming through in the clutch with two outs is becoming Herrmann’s calling card. After the Dodgers had scored twice in the sixth inning, the D-backs got a run back in the bottom half — and it was Herrmann delivering the blow. He lined a single to right to drive in David Peralta from second base. With the at-bat, Herrmann improved to 10-for-25 (.400) with runners in scoring position and 6-for-13 (.462) in that same situation with two outs.

THE BAD

Though he had struck out five of the first 11 batters, Bradley reached a three-ball count four times in 3.1 innings, elevating his pitch count into the 50s by the fourth inning. He appeared to right the ship, but only momentarily as it turned out as he went 3-1, 3-0 and 3-1 again to Pederson, Yasmani Grandal and Howie Kendrick in successive fifth-inning at-bats. Grandal and Kendrick each walked.

Those walks came back to bite Bradley. After Maeda sacrificed the runners up 90-feet, Utley took his turn in the batter’s box and greeted the first offering he saw from Bradley—a 93-mph fastball—grounding the ball just past a diving Segura and into right field for a two-run single. Grandal scored the tying run and Kendrick the go-ahead run to give the Dodgers their first lead of the game, 3-2, in the fifth inning.

Victimized twice by the long ball in his last start, Bradley allowed a career-high three home runs—all solo shots—to the Dodgers. Pederson’s solo shot in the fifth was the first hit Bradley allowed, while Turner led off the sixth inning with a blast to left field, putting the Dodgers back in front, 4-3. Three batters later, Pederson again hit the ball out of the ballpark, recording his second multi-homer game of the season.

Not even the bullpen was immune to the long ball on this night. Pitching the seventh inning, Zac Curtis allowed a leadoff double to Kendrick and then one out later, Utley blasted an 83-mph slider into the right-field seats, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 7-4. It was the first homer allowed in 14 appearances (10.1 IP) by Curtis and the fourth of the night by D-backs pitchers, who have surrendered 79 on the season.

STAT OF THE GAME

4: The number of home runs the Dodgers hit, one shy of a season-high. They hit five at the Mets on May 28.

HE SAID IT

“This definitely a big learning lesson,” Bradley said. “It’s just frustrating. We get on a roll, win three in a row; and I have really good stuff until the fifth and then just kind of hit a wall.”

NOTED

– Curtis was optioned to Double-A Mobile after the game. The corresponding roster move is to come Wednesday.

– Goldschmidt is hitting .378 (26-for-69) with four home runs, 14 RBI and 11 walks in the past 19 games.

– Peter O’Brien saw eight total pitches in four at-bats; he went 0-for-4 and is 1-for-14 on the homestand.

– Brandon Drury was again not in the lineup. He’s started only one time, June 12, in the past six games.

– With a first-pitch temperature of 98 degrees, the game was played with both the roof and panels open.

UP NEXT

The three-game series against the Dodgers and nine-game homestand comes to a close with—on paper—an outstanding pitching matchup with left-handers Patrick Corbin and Clayton Kershaw taking the mound on Wednesday.

It’s an early first pitch, scheduled for 12:40 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Corbin (3-5) received a no-decision in his last appearance, allowing four runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts in 6.1 innings against the Marlins.

Only once in the past four starts has he limited the opposition to fewer than three runs.

In his career, Corbin is 3-4 with one save in 10 games versus the Dodgers.

Kershaw, meanwhile, is having another excellent season.

He carries a seven-start winning streak into the matinee affair, running his record to 9-1 after beating the Giants in San Francisco.

Last month’s National League Pitcher of the Month, Kershaw leads the majors in ERA (1.52), WHIP (0.65), strikeouts (122) and innings pitched (100.2) while ranking among the league leaders in opponents’ batting average (.169, 2nd) and wins (9, T-4th).

Oh, and he’s only walked five batters — total.

Kershaw is 11-8 with a 2.76 ERA in 23 games all-time against the D-backs.

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