Patrick Corbin nearly unhittable as D-backs complete sweep of Dodgers

PHOENIX – Winning each of the first two series was nice. Even better, closing the first homestand with a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It’s hard to find much fault with the Arizona Diamondbacks’ start to 2018.

It was hard to find much fault with Patrick Corbin’s outing Wednesday.

Making his second start of the season, Corbin improved to 2-0 with 7.1 innings of shutout baseball, helping the D-backs beat the Dodgers 3-0 in front of an announced crowd of 25,754 at Chase Field.

Corbin was perfect through four innings and retired 14 straight before Matt Kemp dropped a double into shallow right field. It would be the only hit the Dodgers recorded off Corbin, who earned his first win against the Dodgers since Sept. 11, 2013, at Dodger Stadium.

Brad Boxberger worked the ninth to pick up his second save in as many chances.

Corbin had Dodgers batters chasing his slider all game long. He struck out a career-high 12 and walked only one in a 98-pitch effort.

And if that wasn’t good enough, Corbin also handled the bat well. He had two hits, or one more than the Dodgers finished with.

The D-backs scored single runs in each of the first three innings off starter Alex Wood (0-2). Paul Goldschmidt, Deven Marrero and Ketel Marte all had RBI.

It was the D-backs’ ninth straight regular-season win over the Dodgers, tied for the third-longest winning streak against a single opponent in franchise history.

At 5-1, the D-backs tied their best six-game start in franchise history.

THE GOOD

Get ’em on. Get ’em over. Get ’em in. The D-backs did exactly that in each of the first three innings. Jarrod Dyson, Chris Owings and Corbin were driven in by Goldschmidt (groundout), Marrero (sacrifice fly) and Marte (base hit), respectively, to put the D-backs ahead 3-0. Dyson, Owings and Corbin all doubled to reach base, with Corbin ripping a ball over Matt Kemp’s head in left field.

Through three innings, Corbin had struck out six of the nine batters faced. His third strikeout — a swing and a miss by Yasmani Grandal to lead off the second inning — marked the 662nd of his career which moved him past Ian Kennedy for sole possession of fourth place on the club’s all-time strikeout list. Of the 36 pitches Corbin threw to complete three innings, 25 went for strikes.

Through six innings, Corbin had struck out nine of the 19 batters faced. Even more impressive, only three of those 19 batters hit a ball to the outfield, and 10 total even put the ball in play. But let’s examine the strikeouts a bit more. Five of the nine Corbin recorded were swing-and-misses at his slider. Grandal was victimized twice. Of the 77 pitches Corbin threw to complete six innings, 50 went for strikes.

THE BAD

It was batter No. 15. With two outs in the fifth inning, Kemp doubled to record the first hit off Corbin, who had retired the previous 14 Dodgers to start the game. Kemp reached across the plate to make contact with the 1-2 slider, lifting the ball into the air before it landed in shallow right field, well out of reach of a hard-charging Owings. Fortunately, Kemp was stranded at second, keeping the shutout intact.

In the sixth inning, the D-backs ran themselves into a pair of outs. With A.J. Pollock on third base and the infield in, Owings hit a ground ball to second baseman Logan Forsythe who threw home, catching Pollock in a rundown. Pollock was eventually tagged out at third base. In the meantime, Owings broke for second base. He, too, was then tagged out to complete the unusual 4-2-5-3-4 inning-ending double play.

STAT OF THE GAME

1: The number of hits allowed by Corbin, who became just the fourth D-backs pitcher to throw seven-plus innings with 12-plus strikeouts and no more than one hit and one walk allowed.

HE SAID IT

“For me, this was a day that was all about Patrick Corbin,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “He came out and executed a tremendous gameplan…kept a very offensive team off the scoreboard.”

NOTED

Corbin threw a first-pitch strike to 19-of-24 batters faced; plus, he reached a three-ball count four times.

Corbin had been 0-8 with a 5.85 ERA in 10 games (nine starts) between wins against the Dodgers.

Pollock has now reached base safely in 31 consecutive games against the Dodgers at Chase Field.

Marte started at shortstop for the second straight day as Nick Ahmed was sidelined with an illness.

The D-backs also started 5-1 in four previous seasons, including 2000, 2012, 2013 and then 2017.

The D-backs have now won each of their last six games when the opponent starts a left-hand pitcher.

With a first-pitch temperature of 85 degrees, the game was played with the roof and panels closed.

UP NEXT

The first road trip of 2018.

Immediately after Wednesday’s matinee, the D-backs departed on a nine-game, 11-day trip with visits to St. Louis, San Francisco and Los Angeles. They’ll play three games in each city, beginning with a three-game set with the Cardinals.

Robbie Ray and Michael Wacha is the pitching matchup for the series opener on Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on ESPN 620 AM.

Ray (1-0) excelled on the road last season, going 8-1 with a 1.86 ERA (18 ER in 87.0 IP) in 15 starts.

This will be Ray’s first appearance at Busch Stadium since being struck in the head by a line drive back on July 28.

The D-backs went 3-4 against the Cardinals in 2017, including 2-2 in St. Louis.

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