Sedona Red Recap: Inciarte fuels D-backs to walk-off win over Dodgers in 10th

Now that’s how you end a ball game.

With runners at the corners and one out in the bottom of the 10th inning, Arizona Diamondbacks left fielder Ender Inciarte ripped a single just inside the first base bag to send the 27,404 fans at Chase Field home happy on Friday night.

The D-backs won game one against the two-time defending NL West champion L.A. Dodgers, 4-3.

For Inciarte it was his first career walk-off hit, and he wasted little time, jumping on the first pitch he saw from J.P. Howell (0-1).

The play of the game, however, may have come on the pitch prior.

That’s when Cliff Pennington stole third on what was ball four to A.J. Pollock to put the winning run just 90-feet away.

D-backs starter Chase Anderson was chased out of the game after just five innings, allowing three runs on five hits including a home run. He walked three, one intentional and struck out six.

The D-backs have yet to have a starter complete six innings this season.

The other Anderson, Brett, making his Dodgers debut, did go six. His only mistake was a fastball to Paul Goldschmidt, who blasted the pitch into the pool area for a three-run home run. It was his first of the year and first RBI as well, which gave the D-backs a 3-0 lead in the third inning.

The Dodgers chipped away at the deficit with a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth, leaving the game tied until the 10th inning.

Oliver Perez (1-0) was the pitcher of record as the D-backs snapped a five-game losing streak to the Dodgers.

THE GOOD

Anderson, who last season ranked second among NL rookies with 105 strikeouts, struck out four the first time through the lineup. He also benefited from some great defense behind him, including second-inning plays by Nick Ahmed — ranging in the hole to retire Juan Uribe — and Chris Owings, who made a diving stop on a Joc Pederson grounder headed up the middle.

Goldschmidt’s third-inning home run was his 14th in 58 career games against the Dodgers, the most versus any opponent. Six of those home runs have come at Chase Field, where he is now batting .328 (39-for-119) with 24 RBI in 32 games against the Dodgers. And with three hits Friday, Goldschmidt has reached base nine times in the last three games with six hits and three walks.

Though early, Andrew Chafin has taken the lead for best D-backs reliever. Entering in the top of the sixth, he pitched three scoreless innings, retiring all nine batters he faced, doing so on 33 pitches — 23 of which were strikes. Dating back to his last outing on Opening Day, Chafin has set down 16 in a row.

That’s one way to cool off the game’s hottest hitter, don’t throw him anything good to hit.

Manager Chip Hale said pregame they would “definitely be careful” with Adrian Gonzalez. He wasn’t kidding. Gonzalez, who entered the game hitting .769 (10-for-13), singled in his first at-bat, but then walked twice, including once intentionally, and grounded out twice.

THE BAD

Anderson’s penchant for giving up the long ball last season has resurfaced in 2015. In the fourth inning with two out and nobody on, Yasmani Grandal deposited a 92-mph fastball into the seats in right-center field. It was his first of the season and scored the Dodgers first run of the game. A year ago, Anderson surrendered 16 home runs, the most among NL rookies.

Anderson gave up two more runs in the fifth. And this time the ball stayed in the ballpark. Following back-to-back base hits to leadoff the inning, Jimmy Rollins smashed a one-out double to the gap in right field to score Uribe and Pederson, the latter of which tied the game at 3.

Rough start at the plate this season for Owings. Four games in, he’s still looking for his first hit, the lone regular position player without one. Owings went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, making him hitless in 11 at-bats. He and Mark Trumbo are tied for the team lead with five strikeouts.

Following Goldschmidt’s home run in the third inning, D-backs’ hitters went a combined 2-for-22 heading into the bottom of the 10th. For the game, the back half of the lineup—hitters five through eight—was held without a hit, going 0-for-15 with four strikeouts and a walk.

STAT OF THE GAME

1.02: The D-backs’ bullpen ERA (2 ER in 17.2 IP) through four games this season

HE SAID IT

“I was just trying to hit the ball hard. He’s a sinker guy, so it’s not a good idea to be trying to hit fly balls against him. I hit it hard to the first base line and it worked for us,” Inciarte said of his at-bat in the 10th. “It feels really good. I never had a walk-off in the big leagues, so it’s big for me.”

NOTED

Through four games the D-backs are still looking for a quality start from their rotation, which has allowed 16 earned runs on 32 hits in 19.3 innings for a 7.45 ERA.

Anderson has thrown at least five innings in 13 straight home starts, the sixth-longest streak by a D-back since 2011.

The Anderson vs. Anderson matchup marked the 15th time since 2000 starting pitchers with the same last name have faced each other; most recently on Aug. 21, 2012 with Mariners’ Felix Hernandez and Indians’ Roberto Hernandez.

UP NEXT

Top pitching prospect Archie Bradley makes his Major League debut in game two of the three-game series on Saturday, April 11.

First pitch is scheduled for 5:10 with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Bradley, drafted with the seventh overall pick in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft, is the D-backs No.1 prospect according to MLB.com (15th overall) and Baseball American (25th overall) for the second straight season.

His counterpart is arguably the best thrower in the game, left-hander Clayton Kershaw.

A year ago, Kershaw led the Majors with 21 wins and a 1.77 ERA in 27 starts, becoming the first-ever pitcher to win four straight MLB ERA titles, en route to being named NL MVP and unanimously winning his second consecutive and third career Cy Young Award.

Kershaw last pitched Monday against the Padres on Opening Day, allowing three runs on six hits in 6.0 innings, not factoring in the decision in a 6-3 Dodgers’ victory. He struck out nine batters and issued two walks on 99 pitches.

Kershaw is 10-7 in 21 career starts—he won three of four starts last season—against the D-backs with a 2.45 ERA and has limited batters to a .219 average.

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