Dodgers can’t catch a break in latest loss

The Dodgers found a creative new way to lose on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. Two walks and an error on a throw home led to two go-ahead runs for the Diamondbacks, who won 3-1 in 10 innings to extend their winning streak to 12 games.

The loss was the fifth straight for the Dodgers, their second five-game losing streak in their last 11 games.

Pedro Baez, who let’s just say is having a rough go of things of late, walked the first two batters of the 10th inning, then got four-homer man J.D. Martinez on a shattered-bat ground ball that advanced both runners into scoring position. On a ground ball by Brandon Drury to third base, Justin Turner threw home ahead of pinch-runner Chris Herrmann, but the throw clanged off Yasmani Grandal’s right shoulder rather than nestled in his glove.

The ball got away, allowing both runners to score, with the error originally charged to Grandal on the missed catch. But the ball glanced off Herrmann’s shoulder, both said after the game:

That led to a scoring change, with Turner getting the error on the throw for hitting the runner.

Baez has faced 10 batters in September, and has retired two of them. Three if you credit him for inducing a ground ball that normally gets at least one out.

The Dodgers brought the tying run to the plate against Fernando Rodney, but Andre Ethier grounded out to first base to end the contest.

For starters

Zack Greinke didn’t even allow a hit until Grandal led off the fifth inning with his 19th home run of the season. Grandal has nine extra-base hits — including five home runs — in his last 20 starts.

But that was the only tally against Greinke, who struck out six and walked only one in seven innings. He allowed five runs on 10 hits in five innings at Dodger Stadium on Apr. 14, but in three starts against the Dodgers since — all in the last four weeks — Greinke has allowed five runs on 12 hits in 19⅔ innings.

Hyun-jin Ryu allowed a pair of doubles in the fourth inning for his only run allowed in six frames. One of those was hit by J.D. Martinez, which still counts as a win after he hit four home runs in Monday’s series opener.

It was the second straight night the Dodgers starting pitcher bounced back after a bad start last week in Phoenix. Ryu struck out seven — one shy of his total in his previous three starts combined — in his six innings of work, though he also walked five, one short of his career high and the third in 78 career starts he has issued at least five free passes.

Tuesday marked the 17th Dodgers game this season in which both starters pitched at least five innings and allowed no more than one run.

Chicken strip desert

Ross Stripling followed Ryu with scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth, walking one with two strikeouts. The right-hander owns a 2.03 ERA in 26⅔ innings since the All-Star break to go with a 29-percent strikeout rate, compared to a 3.92 ERA in 39 innings and a 24.7-percent K rate before the midsummer classic.

Broadcast blues

On a rare opportunity the Dodgers could be seen on television by a majority of televisions in the Los Angeles area, SportsNet LA was having technical difficulties for several innings of its broadcast. The results, depending on your source — SportsNet LA, the KTLA simulcast, or MLBtv -- ranged at times from hearing and/or watching the Diamondbacks television feed, a single-camera no-announcer setup, audio cutting in and out, closed captioning several seconds ahead of the audio, or even a black screen for a brief moment reminiscent of The Sopranos finale.

Up next

Kenta Maeda is next in line for a rebound start after Rich Hill and Ryu combined to allow three runs in 12 innings in the first two games of the series, with 16 strikeouts. Taijuan Walker starts the series finale for Arizona, a 7:10 p.m. PT start and the last regular season meeting of the year between these two teams.

Tuesday particulars

Home run: Yasmani Grandal (19)

WP - David Hernandez (2-0): 1 IP, 1 hit

LP - Pedro Baez (3-4): ⅓ IP, 2 unearned runs, 2 walks

Sv - Fernando Rodney (35): 1 IP, 1 hit