Wild 7th inning too much to handle for Diamondbacks in loss to Dodgers

You wouldn’t expect there to be many runs scored Friday night the way both starting pitchers were dealing when the Arizona Diamondbacks faced off against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But the way both bullpens pitched, it quickly made all memory of Zack Godley’s and Kenta Maeda’s starts be completely forgotten, as the Dodgers beat the Diamondbacks 9-7.

The majority of the scoring happened in a marathon of what was the seventh inning.

Having only two hits through six off of Maeda, the Diamondbacks needed somewhat of a misplay by shortstop Corey Seager to get things started. Welington Castillo doubled home Paul Goldschimdt soon after to score the D-backs’ first run, chasing Maeda out of the game.

The inning was far, far from over.

The Diamondbacks worked two walks to go along with six hits and scored all seven of their runs in the seventh frame. It took five Dodgers pitchers just to get out of that one inning.

Holding a four-run lead going into stretch time, manager Chip Hale decided to put in Daniel Hudson, who had been struggling of late. That trend continued as Hudson gave up a single, a home run and a walk before he was quickly replaced by Zac Curtis.

Curtis didn’t have much going either as he also gave up a two-run home run and watched the once four-run D-backs lead quickly disappear.

The Dodgers ended up getting the go-ahead run in the 12-run seventh inning. That inning alone took one hour and 13 minutes and saw 21 batters come to the plate.

Because of that inning, the game was so long that the Dodgers almost had to cancel their planned fireworks show, which they announced in the top of the ninth inning, causing boos from the home team even though the Dodgers were holding a two-run lead.

The wild seventh frame overshadowed the great work by both starting pitchers, as Godley tossed six innings of work, and allowed three runs on four hits while striking out four.