PHOENIX — The Dodgers overcame another ninth-inning meltdown from closer Edwin Díaz to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-1 in 10 innings Saturday, ending their seven-game losing streak.
Shohei Ohtani drove in Kyle Tucker on a single to put the Dodgers ahead in extras before reliever Jack Dreyer got Ryan Waldschmidt — the hero of Arizona’s walk-off win Friday — to hit into a 1-4-3 double-play to end the game.
The Dodgers ended what was their longest losing streak since last July.
“I’ve seen how our guys have responded to adversities and losing streaks, and so it’s not a panic situation,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday. “It’s a pretty simple formula, and I’ve just kind of seen our guys do it.”
Before this latest streak, the Dodgers had done an admirable job of not piling up losses. They hadn’t lost more than four straight games until this week. But the Dodgers were swept in two straight series, against the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs heading into the weekend against Arizona.
The win Saturday, brought the Dodgers’ lead in the division race on the second-place Diamondbacks back up to 8½ games.
The Dodgers offense has hardly found any success against Arizona. A day after Merrill Kelly kept the Dodgers hitless through his first five innings on the mound, Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt gave up only a pair of infield hits to Andy Pages through seven innings.
Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto was nearly as effective, holding the Diamondbacks to three hits. But he wasn’t as efficient and exited with two outs in the sixth inning, his pitch count up to 107.
The game remained scoreless until Kyle Tucker hit a solo home run to right field off Diamondbacks reliever Jonathan Loáisiga.
After Tucker broke the seal, the Dodgers sent two more hits out of the infield, singles from left fielder Teoscar Hernández and catcher Hunter Feduccia but failed to drive in either runner.
Reliever Kyle Hurt then took the mound for the Dodgers. He retired the first two batters, but gave up a single and back-to-back walks to load the bases. Tanner Scott replaced him and escaped the inning by inducing Waldschmidt to fly out.
Then in the ninth, Díaz, who gave up a walk-off home run on Friday, blew it again, but he at least managed to keep the score tied.
Díaz gave up back-to-back triples to Geraldo Perdomo and Corbin Carroll to tie the score. He got the first out on Gabriel Moreno’s line drive to third baseman Max Muncy and the second on Ketel Marte’s pop out, and then, after intentionally walking Lars Nootbaar, Díaz struck out Ildemaro Vargas.
Tucker served as the Dodgers’ automatic runner on second base to start the 10th inning, and with two outs, he advanced to third base on a wild pitch, as Feduccia took first on a walk.
That put runners on the corners for Ohtani. He hit a sharp ground ball to the right of Diamondbacks first baseman Tim Tawa, who made a diving stop. But the ball rolled away from him as he went to flip to first, giving Ohtani time to reach first and Tucker time to score the go-ahead run.
Clinging to a narrow lead, the Dodgers turned to Dreyer. He struck out Tawa. And then he got James McCann to hit a soft grounder up the middle, but McCann beat second baseman Tommy Edman’s throw to first by a split second.
With runners on the corners, Waldschmidt hit a bouncing comebacker that Dreyer snagged and threw to second before Edman quickly threw to Freddie Freeman to end the game.
At last, the streak was over.
Ohtani plays catch
Fans consolidated in the right field stands as Ohtani warmed up by throwing a weighted plyo ball against the back wall of the visitor’s bullpen and then returned to the outfield to play catch.
It was the first time Ohtani, who threw on flat ground from about 90 feet, has been spotted playing catch before a game since July 22, when he threw a 31-pitch bullpen in Philadelphia. According to the team, he has been keeping his arm moving with plyo balls drills.
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