The Diamondbacks offense answered the bell, but both starting pitching and the bullpen failed to rise to the occasion tonight. Zac Gallen was roughed up early and by the time he found his footing, his pitch count was too high for him to make a deep run in the ballgame. The offense took full advantage of a dinged up Kershaw and his early bullpen replacements, keeping pace with the high-powered Dodgers through the first 5 innings. Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks offense went silent until a wild 9th-inning rally that fell just short thanks to a couple long balls served up by Paul Sewald in the preceding innings. While tonight’s loss stings, the fact that the Dodgers had to burn nearly all of their relievers to cover 8 stressful innings in this ballgame may provide dividends over the next three games in this series.

If you’d like a more detailed recap of this one, continue on, otherwise feel free to scroll down to the bells and whistles!

Shohei Ohtani took advantage of a fastball down the pipe for the first pitch of the game and laced it down the right field line for a double. Mookie Betts followed up with a ground ball on the first pitch he saw up the middle to Perdomo. Domo made the easy play to first, but Ohtani was able to advance to third. Freddie Freeman went up in the count 3-0 and Zac Gallen was apparently hoping Freddie was taking all the way and tried to groove a fastball down the middle. Unfortunately, Freddie had the green light and he smoked the ball over the wall in left-center and the Diamondbacks were facing an early 2-0 deficit. Teoscar Hernandez mercifully struck out on a check swing to give Gallen a second out and then Gavin Lux tried to get the train moving again with a double to right before Will Smith flew out to Lourdes to end the half-inning.

Gerry Perdomo did his best to get the Serpientes some momentum back. He turned on a 1-2 Slider, lining it to the wall in front of the home bullpen and matched Shohei’s leadoff double with a double of his own. Grichuk got the runner to third with a grounder to short just like Mookie did in the top half. Would Lourdes continue the matching game with a homer of his own? No, but he did earn a four-pitch walk, bringing up Big Josh Bell. Josh came into play 1-for-8 against Kershaw, but he showed no problems fisting a single into right field, scoring Perdomo and keeping the line going for Jake McCarthy. McCarthy feel behind 1-2, but Kershaw lost control of a fastball and plunked Jake on the elbow guard to load the bases, still with just one out in the inning. Eugenio Suarez stepped to the plate with 2 grand slams to his credit on the season and more RBIs since July 1 than anyone else in MLB. Geno got jammed by a fastball and sent a sinking liner to left. Teoscar Hernandez made a good sliding grab and immediately fired toward home plate to try and nab Lourdes trying to score. The throw was cut off and thrown back to second to double off Josh Bell who didn’t bother tagging on the play, but Lourdes was able to score before the final out was recorded and the Diamondbacks evened up the game 2-2 after one.

Zac couldn’t take advantage of his offense’s long first inning. He allowed singles to right to the first three batters he faced in the second, making the score 3-2 with runners at the corners and no outs. Gallen hit Ohtani with the first pitch he offered to load the bases with no outs. Zac Gallen finally got his first out of the inning on a Betts sac fly to Jake McCarthy, allowing one run to score and the runner at second to advance to third. An Ohtani stolen base put both runners in scoring position and put the double play out of order. Freddie Freeman then grounded out to Josh Bell, but got an RBI out of it when Miguel Rojas came home for the Dodgers third run of the inning. Fortunately, Teoscar Hernandez came to the plate as the only Dodger who hadn’t figured out Gallen and he struck out for the second time in as many tries, but the Dodgers were back in front 5-2.

The Diamondbacks were determined to not let this game get away. Corbin Carroll mashed an eephus-speed curveball OVER the right field foul pole for a deep lead-off homer and bring the Snakes back within 2. The Dodgers had already started the bullpen warming up, so it’s possible Kershaw wasn’t feeling himself before he came out for the second and, sure enough, before Corbin had even touched home plate, Dave Roberts was making the walk out to get his veteran southpaw.

Kevin Newman greeted Joe Kelly, the Dodgers new pitcher, with a single to center field. Jose Herrera, up to bunt Newman over to second, took advantage of Kelly’s wildness to work a full count before taking strike 3 looking. Now with one out, Perdomo flew out to shallow center. With Dodgers lefty starter now out of the game and into a very right-hand heavy bullpen, Torey made the call to pinch hit Joc for Randal. Pederson got hit by a pitch, which seems like a nearly every night occurrence at this point, to bring up Lourdes with an opportunity to bring the D-backs closer. Gurriel was not able to plate any more runs, flying out to center to end the inning, but the D-backs closed the gap to 5-3 and were into the Dodgers’ bullpen EARLY.

Zac Gallen finally retired the leadoff hitter, getting Gavin Lux to lineout to Corbin in right. Gallen success was fleeting, however, as he walked the next two batters he faced. Faced with more traffic on the base paths, Gallen was able to locate 3 straight pitches effectively to relative new Dodger Tommy Edman and strike him out looking. Miguel Rojas came up with Shohei’s MVP-sized shadow standing in the on-deck circle, and Zac buckled down and retired the Dodgers’ #9 hitter with a shallow fly out to center to put up his first zero of the night.

Josh Bell, now batting from the left side of the plate, got his second single of the night to lead off the third. Jake McCarthy then reached on a hit-by-pitch on a toss from Kelly than landed so far in front of the plate I think it had grass stains on it. Geno Suarez came up with ducks on the pond again, but came up woefully short by grounding in to a double play. Now with Josh Bell at third, Corbin got the old pitch-around walk on 4 pitches to bring up Kevin Newman for his second at bat against Joe Kelly of the evening. Corbin hasn’t tried much stealing lately, but his speed was clearly in Joe Kelly’s head, causing him to balk in a run after 3 disengagements. Now with only a 5-4 advantage for the Dodgers and Kelly on fumes with his longest outing of the season by far, Kevin Newman earned a walk to bring up Herrera and Dave Roberts refused to make a pitching change. Herrera would make him pay for that decision, driving a single to right to score Corbin and tie the ballgame! Now Roberts made his move to the pen, bringing on lefty Alex Vesia to face the top of the order. Gerry couldn’t bring any more runs home, popping out to left field, but a great inning for the D-backs had the game locked at 5 runs apiece after 3 eventful innings.

Zac Gallen came back out for his fourth inning of work and was staring down Shohei Ohtani for the third time of the night. Gallen started a little shaky, falling behind 3-1 in the count, but came back and got Ohtani to whiff on a beautiful Knuckle-Curve for the first out of the inning. Then Mookie followed that up with a cue shot meekly poked to second base for the second out. Freddie Freeman then worked a full count, but was rung up on a check swing on a pitch at his ankles to end the inning, Gallen’s first 1-2-3 frame of the night.

Joc led off the home half of the 4th with a strikeout, Gurriel grounded out to third, and Josh Bell grounded out to short to provide the Dodgers with their first 1-2-3 inning of the night.

Gallen appeared to have finally found his stride, striking out Hernandez for the third time to lead off the fifth, and then getting Gavin Lux to strike out and Will Smith to ground out to Perdomo. It was a ROUGH start to the game, but over the final 2+ innings of his night, he finally found his command and was able to silence the powerful Dodger lineup and give his offense a chance to claw its way back into the game.

The Dodgers made another call to the bullpen, right-hander Ryan Brasier, to open the fifth and Jake McCarthy dropped a beauty of a bunt on the first pitch he saw to leadoff the inning with a single. Geno, unfortunately, continued his trend of the night by hitting into a double play (his third of the night) on the first pitch he saw to erase the #CHAOS play by Jake. Corbin came up with the bases now empty and gave the ball a ride to the track in left field, but it fell harmlessly into Hernandez’ glove to end the inning.

Now in the sixth inning, the Snakes finally dipped into their bullpen with Dylan Floro getting the first call of the night. The first pitch he threw was a fastball that Max Muncy ripped into the gap in left-center for a double. Floro induced an infield pop out for the first out of the inning, keeping Muncy at second. Floro then nearly let Miguel Rojas get away with a walk, falling behind the #9 hitter 3-0 before coming back in the count and forcing a ground out to Newman for the second out of the inning. With Shohei and rest of the Dodgers’ terrifying trio coming up, Torey came out and swapped his righty for southpaw Joe Mantiply. Mantiply got Ohtani into a 2-strike hole, but then yanked a breaking ball that Jose Herrera couldn’t corral and Muncy scored from third on the wild pitch. It’s really too bad because two pitches later, Ohtani whiffed on a curveball well below the zone to end the inning. Going to the bottom of the 6th, the D-backs were back down by a run, 6-5.

Dodgers brought out one of the hottest pitchers in the Majors since the trade deadline, Michael Kopech. Kevin Newman said he didn’t care how good Kopech is pitching right now, serving a broken bat flare into center to reach base ahead of Herrera. Looking to bunt again, Herrera popped up the bunt right back to the pitcher for the first out of the inning. Gerry Perdomo then came up and let the reliever spray the ball around the zone, not swinging at a pitch on his way to a five pitch walk. That brought up Joc Pederson with the platoon advantage and the go-ahead run at first. Joc was swinging for the fences early in the count, coming up empty on some fastballs in the zone before watching a couple fastballs go by inside. After fouling off the fifth fastball of the at bat, Kopeck was able to land a breaking ball at the top of the zone to freeze Joc on Strike 3. Lourdes smoked the first pitch he saw on a line, but right at the Dodger shortstop for the final out of the sixth inning.

Mookie Betts led off the visitor half of the seventh with a leadoff walk, though it certainly appeared the 3-1 pitch was at the knees for a should-be strike. Betts then stole second on the first pitch, but Freddie couldn’t move the runner to third as he grounded out to Suarez for the first out of the inning. With first base open and a lefty on deck, Teoscar Hernandez got four fingers to take first and bring up the lefty Gavin Lux. Dave Roberts decided to force Torey’s hand by pinch-hitting for Lux with Kike Hernandez. Now without the platoon advantage, Torey took a LONG walk out to the mound before finally taking the ball from Joe Mantiply and signaling for Paul Sewald to make his entrance into the game. Sewald may not have been in a Save situation here, but this is definitely a high-leverage moment for the beleaguered former closer. Sewald got the pinch hitter to fly out to Corbin in right, but Betts advanced to third on the play. Will Smith came to the plate and on the first pitch, the Dodgers put runners in motion. Hernandez stole second but Betts was nearly back-picked when Herrera threw to third instead of second. All that shuffling of runners ended up not mattering in the end as Smith homered to left and put the D-backs in their deepest hole of the game. Sewald struck out Max Muncy to end the inning, but critical damage had been dealt. The score stood at 9-5 in favor of LA with nine outs remaining for the D-backs offense.

Josh Bell was the first batter to face old Diamondback pitcher Daniel Hudson, and he sent a fastball to the track in center field before it died in Tommy Edman’s glove. Jake McCarthy grounded the ball hard up the middle, but the Dodger infield positioning was right where it needed to be to retire McCarthy for the second out. Unable to GIDP for the first time of the night, Geno decided not to put the ball in play at all and struck out. With six outs remaining for the offense, the Snakes still had to make up 4 runs.

Paul Sewald came back out for the 8th and retired the first two hitters he faced before allowing Ohtani to continue his chase to a 50/50 season, teeing up a middle-middle fastball that Shohei blasted to left-center bleachers, extending the Dodger lead to five runs. Mookie Betts flew out to end the inning, but the score was continuing to slide the wrong way.

Even though the fans had become dejected, Corbin continued his hot second half with a ground rule double to leadoff the 8th. Pavin Smith entered the game for Kevin Newman and couldn’t move Corbin over to third on a liner to second. ADC came in to pinch hit for Herrera and he went down looking before Domo grounded out to second and the Snakes failed to cash in the leadoff double.

Kevin Ginkel was given the mop-up role tonight and he earned a quick groundout by Freddie Freeman before allowing a double to Teoscar Hernandez. A quiet pop out by Kike Hernandez preceded an outstanding leaping grab by Corbin Carroll at the wall to record the Dodgers’ 27th out of the night.

The Diamondbacks final frame saw Joc Pederson and Josh Bell single around a Lourdes Gurriel strikeout. Both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch and then Jake McCarthy brought them both home on an RBI single to center. Now with inklings of a new ballgame, Geno Suarez came up with a chance to hit into his fourth double play, but instead he went back to his hot second half ways and he homered on a missile to left field and all of a sudden it was a one-run game!

With crowd ready to come unglued, Corbin popped out into foul territory for the second out of the inning. Luis Guillorme came up for his first at bat of the night, but in a left-on-left matchup, Guillorme was behind the 8-ball and he ended up sending a routine fly ball out to left for the final out of this wild first game in a four-game set.

Loss Probability

Courtesy FanGraphs

Players of the Game

The offense as a whole gave the team a chance to win tonight, so it’s tough to single out any single player, especially without a game winning hit to put anyone over the top. Jake McCarthy and Josh Bell led the team in WPA (+18.5% and 17.8%, respectively) and had strong box scores with 2 hits, 2 RBI and 1 R for McCarthy and 3 hits, 2 R, and 1 RBI for Josh Bell. Also, I’m not going to credit Josh Bell with a TOOTBLAN for failing to tag up on the sac fly turned double play in the first as serving himself up as a lame duck nearly guaranteed that the Dodgers would cut off the throw to the plate (on what likely would have been a close play) to double him off while allowing Gurriel to score.

Comment of the Night

The GTD blew away most threads we’ve seen so far this season with a whopping 598 comments at the current time of me writing this. With so much engagement, Recs were flying around left and right so there a lot of Anti-Colangelo-Red comments to choose from. I’m going to use a little bit of discretion and choose this comment from JustRonn on a viable gameplan for Zac to use in future starts:

Coming Up

The Dodgers and all of their transplanted fans will be back at Chase tomorrow evening at 5:10pm local time. Merrill the Mainstay will be on the mound for the D-backs and young right-hander Gavin Stone will take the hill for the Dodgers.

Scoreboard Watch

All games for the day are final, and it wasn’t a particularly swell day to be a D-backs fan. In addition to the Dodgers beating us on our home turf, the Braves, Mets, and Padres all won their contests. We are now tied with the Padres for the first Wild Card and we’re 2 ahead of Atlanta for the third Wild Card. The Diamondbacks stand at 5 games ahead of the Mets who are the first team outside the NL playoff picture.