Leadoff man Corbin Carroll drives the ball into the gap and sprints around the bases. Slugger Christian Walker hits a home run into the left field seats. Second baseman Ketel Marte hit a big hit, starting a double play that broke up the rally. An unknown pitcher shut down their powerful attack.
If this sounded familiar to the Dodgers and the crowd of 46,593 at Chavez Ravine on Wednesday night, it was because it was all too familiar: The Arizona Diamondbacks cruised to a 6-0 victory, taking two games out of three in a series that was reminiscent of their three-game sweep of the Dodgers in last year's National League Division Series.
Carroll hit a two-run triple in the fifth inning to put the team ahead by three runs and send Dodgers ace Tyler Glasnow to his second straight loss. Walker hurt the Dodgers as he usually does with a solo homer in the sixth and a double in the eighth, and Marte started a wacky, timely double play in the sixth and then hit two runs to rescue the Diamondbacks from a no-out situation.
In Game 3 of the Division Series, bulk reliever Ryne Nelson reprized Brandon Puffert's role, and the 26-year-old right-hander started seven games with a record of 2 wins, 3 losses, and a 7.06 ERA. However, the game against the Dodgers ended in a win. He allowed five hits, five strikeouts, and three walks in five innings.
The Dodgers had a 7-6 record in 13 games in 13 days, but failed to get a hit in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position, the first time since the 13 Series from April 13-15, 2018. They lost the regular season home series against Arizona. It was the first time Arizona had been shutout by Chavez LaVine since Sept. 4, 2017, when they won 13-0.
The Diamondbacks, with several key players injured and others underperforming, were below .500 after the win (24-26) and still trailed the Dodgers by eight games in the National League West.
But they could be a problem for the Dodgers, as they showed in their surprising run in last October's World Series and again this week in Los Angeles.
“Oh yeah. I think we know that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said when asked if Arizona was better than its record indicated. “Everyone in the league seems to have a lot of injuries, certainly starting pitchers.
“But their relievers were really good and they got some good at-bats against us and made big hits when we needed them. We know how good of a team they are. certainly plays very well against us.”
Glasnow allowed two singles, had 6 strikeouts, 0 walks, and 14 strikeouts, and was dominant until the scoreless fourth inning, but the Diamondbacks allowed three runs in the fifth inning to tie the score.
Gabriel Moreno chose to walk with one out. No. 9 batter Kevin Newman advanced Moreno to third base with a single to center field, and Newman advanced to second base with a throw.
Carroll, the National League Rookie of the Year in 2023, is off to a great start in 2024 — he entered Wednesday batting .191 with two home runs and 14 RBIs — from Glasnow. He hit a dangling curve ball 1 and 2 into right-center field. He closed the field gap and hit a two-run triple for a 2-0 lead. He then scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-0.
“I thought he was doing really well from the beginning until the fourth inning,'' Roberts said of Glasnow, who dropped to 6-3 with a 3.09 ERA, giving up four hits, three runs, six strikeouts and one walk in five innings. . .
“He was swinging and making mistakes. His command was good. His breaking ball was good. His slider was good. And in that fifth inning, he just couldn't find his mechanics and lost command. …He got Carroll into a leverage count and hung up a breaking ball.”
The Dodgers also walked Teoscar Hernandez in the top of the fourth inning, and Gavin Lux hit a double over the right field, leaving runners on second and third base with one out. However, Nelson struck out Andy Pages on three pitches and grounded Jason Heyward to first base.
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The Dodgers had a runner on second and no outs in the fifth inning, then Shohei Ohtani hit a mile-high fly ball to center field, Freddie Freeman struck out on a 96 mph fastball from Nelson, and Will Smith hit a ball into the wall but couldn't score. Right.
“We had some situational opportunities but just couldn't capitalize on them. [Nelson] “A couple of times,” Roberts said, “we had those situations where he was coming at us with a fastball and we just couldn't keep up with it. It was just not our style.”
The Diamondbacks pushed their lead to 4-0 in the sixth inning when Walker hit a 417-foot solo home run to left-center field off reliever Elisar Hernandez. The Arizona first baseman had hit 22 home runs in 87 games against the Dodgers, 14 of which came in Chavez Canyon.
“He's one of the guys I watch the most,” Roberts said of Walker. “He plays the game the right way. He uses the whole field. He doesn't give the ball away. He's a defensive Gold Glover. He's a baserunner. He's one of the guys I really respect as a baseball player. It's a pain when he's in the batter's box, for sure.”
The Dodgers had one last chance to decide the game in the bottom of the sixth inning when Teoscar Hernandez singled to right and Lux singled to left, putting him on second base with no outs.
Next, Pages hit a ball with a broken bat down the middle, and Marte cautiously dropped it near the second base bag. Marte fielded the ball and stepped on second base for a force out, and the double play ended with Hernandez being tagged out between second and third base. Heyward popped out to the left warning track to end the inning.
“There really wasn't much we could do with our runners,” Roberts said, “We had a chance to build the inning, but Andy got cut off and Ketel made a hard play and squashed the rally right there.”
Arizona got two runs in the eighth off reliever Ryan Yarbrough: Marte got on base with a home run that hit the left-field foul pole, and Walker doubled and later scored on a passed ball.
Short Hop
Left-hander James Paxton and right-hander Walker Buehler will start the first two games of a three-game series beginning Friday night in Cincinnati, while Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start the series finale on Sunday. It will be Yamamoto's fourth time this season to pitch on five days' rest. … Closer Evan Phillips, who has been sidelined since May 5 with mild right hamstring strain, took batting practice with Class A Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday and is scheduled to begin his rehabilitation with the team on Sunday.
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This article originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
