Dodgers fall to Arizona on walk-off homer as losing skid hits 7
PHOENIX — Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz trudged toward the dugout as Arizona’s Ryan Waldschmidt celebrated with teammates after hitting a two-run, walk-off home run to seal a 4-3 win that sent the Dodgers to a season-worst seventh straight loss.
“We’ve just got to play better,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “I don’t think that the standings — obviously, they are important, they matter. But I just feel like with the talent that we have, we just got to play good baseball, and it’ll take care of itself. It always does.”
The Dodgers’ recent skid dropped their National League West lead into single digits for the first time in over a month. They are now only 7½ games ahead of the second-place Diamondbacks in the division.
They also now have the fourth-best record in the majors (69-47), falling behind the Brewers (72-44) and Braves (70-46) and Rays (69-46).
“A week ago, it looked a lot different,” Roberts said. “And another week from now, it could look even more different. So you’ve just got to put your head down and play baseball.”
They did, at least, have a better record than last season (67-49) at the 116-game mark. But the Dodgers would prefer to, unlike last year, at least earn a first-round bye, and ideally home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Their performance Friday sent them in the wrong direction.
The Dodgers went hitless against Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly for the first five innings. Kyle Tucker and Shohei Ohtani both drew walks, as the Dodgers’ only baserunners before the sixth — and Ohtani was thrown out attempting to steal second to end the third inning.
Finally, leading off the sixth, Tommy Edman — who three innings prior was robbed of a home run on a leaping grab by Diamondbacks right fielder Corbin Carroll — broke up Kelly’s no-hit bid with a sharp infield hit.
Kelly picked off Edman at first base, but Hunter Feduccia followed with a single of his own, the catcher’s first hit since rejoining the Dodgers at the trade deadline.
Ohtani and Andy Pages both drew walks to load the bases. And the Dodgers finally scored on a groundball fielder’s choice from Freddie Freeman. That single run was all they got out of the inning.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki held the Diamondbacks to two runs in six innings. He surrendered a solo homer to Arizona third baseman Nolan Arenado in the second and an RBI triple to Geraldo Perdomo in the fifth. But he only gave up two other hits.
With both starters out by the seventh (Kelly exited with two outs in the sixth because of cramping in his right leg), the Dodgers orchestrated a comeback and then gave it up.
Edman drove in the tying run, too, lining a single to left for the Dodgers’ third hit of the inning off Diamondbacks right-hander Taylor Clarke in the seventh. But the Dodgers failed to turn a bases-loaded situation into a crooked number when Ohtani grounded into a double play to end the inning.
The next inning, Pages gave the Dodgers the lead with a solo homer off Diamondbacks lefty Brandyn Garcia.
The Diamondbacks threatened against Dodgers setup man Tanner Scott. But he escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth by winning a 12-pitch at-bat against Arenado for the inning-ending strikeout.
Bubic joins the team
Trade-deadline acquisition Kris Bubic, who is rehabbing at the Dodgers’ Arizona complex, is taking advantage of the opportunity to be around the team this weekend at Chase Field.
“It’s been a whirlwind the last couple days,” Bubic said. “Obviously I had been with Kansas City the whole time since I was drafted. I’ve been there my whole big-league career. I’d been on the shelf for a little bit now, but to hear I was getting traded over here was pretty exciting.
“Obviously the roster speaks for itself. The success speaks for itself. The opportunity to be a part of this, to learn from these guys, all the coaches on the staff and whatnot, it’s going to be an exciting time. I’m really looking forward to getting started.”
Pitcher Kris Bubic throws during a game between the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Mariners on May 3.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
Bubic initially landed on the injured list in mid-May with a low-grade flexor strain in his left forearm, he specified. While working back from that injury, he had setbacks with an impingement in his left shoulder.
Because he has an injury history with both his elbow (2023 Tommy John surgery) and shoulder (2025 rotator cuff strain), the Royals didn’t rush him back. Bubic said he had a cortisone injection on July 1 and then threw off a mound on Sunday.
“I’m kind of itching to get back going,” he said. “But I know talking with the staff here they’ve got a pretty good plan. I’m expected to come out of the ‘pen in some capacity. At this point, I’m looking forward to getting back on the field and helping this team down the stretch.”
Bubic said the Dodgers have already presented him with a couple mechanical tweaks. He hopes to begin a minor-league rehab assignment around the end of the month or beginning of September.
Homestand plan
The Dodgers plan to pitch two-time Cy Young winners in back-to-back games against the Royals when they return to Los Angeles next week.
On Monday, Tarik Skubal is scheduled to make his first home start at Dodger Stadium, and second with the Dodgers since being acquired in a trade with the Detroit Tigers. On Wednesday, Blake Snell is set to return from the IL for his second start of the season, his first since May.