Dodgers comeback falls short for second straight night

For the second straight night in the desert, the Dodgers starting pitcher dug a hole from which the team could not recover. The Diamondbacks jumped on Hyun-jin Ryu on Wednesday night early and often, then held on for a 6-4 win.

After allowing just one home run in his last six starts, Ryu surrendered two shots in the first inning on Wednesday, then another in the fourth. His night was done after just four innings, with six runs allowed, matching his total for those last six starts.

Coupled with Rich Hill’s 3⅔-inning outing on Tuesday, the Dodgers had starting pitchers fail to last five innings in consecutive games for just the fourth time this season. They have not had a three-game streak in 2017, but before Wednesday they didn’t have a four-game losing streak, either.

The culprits for Arizona included both the usual suspects and some others as well. Paul Goldschmidt happened, with a two-run home run in the first, his 28th career home run against the Dodgers.

Adam Rosales also homered in the first, then in the third robbed Kiké Hernandez of a hit with a diving catch at third base.

Robbie Ray held the Dodgers scoreless until two outs in the seventh inning, when Curtis Granderson hit his fourth home run in 10 games as a Dodger, a solo shot.

Ray allowed just four hits while collecting two hits of his own at the plate. The left-hander struck out 10 on the night, and walked two. He has 39 strikeouts in four starts against the Dodgers this season.

Down 5-0 early on Tuesday, the Dodgers clawed back to within a run, and had the tying run on base in the ninth. On Wednesday, deficit was six runs, and the Dodgers offense put the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the eighth.

Yasiel Puig hit a two-run single to pull the Dodgers within 6-3, then Granderson walked with the bases loaded to force in another run. Granderson is just 5-for-37 (.135) since joining his new team, but has also walked nine times in addition to the four home runs.

But the threat ended when Archie Bradley struck out Chase Utley and induced a ground out from Corey Seager to end the inning.

Fernando Rodney, who threw 31 pitches to save Tuesday night’s win for Arizona and then said he wanted to face the Dodgers in the NLDS, retired the side in order on just 11 pitches to close out Wednesday’s contest.

Cody Bellinger was 1-for-4 with a hit by pitch in his first game back from the disabled list. He struck out against Rodney to end the game.

Up next

Thursday provides a quick turnaround with a 12:40 p.m. PT start on getaway day. Kenta Maeda starts for the Dodgers, trying to salvage a game against old friend Zack Greinke.

Wednesday particulars

Home runs: Curtis Granderson (23); Adam Rosales (6), Paul Goldschmidt (33), Chris Herrmann (9)

WP - Robbie Ray (11-5): 6⅔ IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts

LP - Hyun-jin Ryu (5-7): 4 IP, 8 hits, 6 runs, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts

Sv - Fernando Rodney (34): 1 IP, 1 strikeout