Patrick Corbin bit by late-inning homer in loss to Dodgers

For the third straight start, Patrick Corbin hit a late-inning wall. Though some could point to his high pitch count, that may not have been Corbin’s problem in Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Dodgers.

“I don’t think that affected him too much today,” said D-backs manager Chip Hale. “That has been a bugaboo for him, but I didn’t think so so much today. I thought he had really good stuff and competed well all day.”

In his last outing against the Marlins, the D-backs led 5-1 when Corbin took the mound for his seventh inning. A double and two walks loaded the bases, and Corbin was removed from the game. The Marlins soon hit a grand slam in what ended in a D-backs loss.

“It’s tough to go out there when you give up a hit, you just want some trust in you,” Corbin said after that loss to Miami. “Maybe show some trust in the starter that they can work their way out of that.”

A start before that, against the Cubs, Corbin was dealing a one run game before giving up a solo home run in the sixth inning.

If you ask Corbin why he gave up a go-ahead three-run home run to Scott Van Slyke in what had previously been a four-hit shutout on Wednesday, he’ll tell you it was one bad pitch.

“I had two outs there in the inning, thought I made a good pitch to Adrian there down and away,” Corbin said. “Then I left the changeup up to Howie, and they started to rally there, and that was a big mistake there.”

Corbin (3-6) stayed in the game to finish the sixth and pitch one out in the seventh. His day ended on 6.1 innings of work, three earned runs on seven hits and three walks to go with seven strikeouts. His ERA improves just slightly to 4.76 on the year.

“I think he’s getting better, I think he’s getting stronger,” said Hale. “I think it was just three really good at-bats, and the one pitch to Van Slyke he just left up a little bit. The other ones were just good battles.”

Corbin is the probable pitcher for the D-backs’ game on Tuesday in Toronto.

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