Dodgers fall to Diamondbacks in 15 innings

With nobody left out of the bullpen and no position players left on the bench to use, the Dodgers were at a large disadvantage on the road with nearly six hours of baseball behind them. Even still, they took a 7-6 lead into the bottom of the 15th inning on the strength of a Chase Utley RBI-single.

Wilmer Font needed only to complete his fifth inning of relief to give the Dodgers the victory. On fumes after four innings and 56 pitches, Font’s heroic effort fell apart as the Diamondbacks came up with three hits in the 15th to complete the 8-7 win at Chase Field.

After Font struck out the first batter of the 15th, Jake Lamb punched a one-out single through the shift. Nick Ahmed followed with a gap double to score Lamb from first and tie the game. Two batters later, Jeff Mathis lined a single into center to send everyone home.

Things would’ve been interesting if the game had gone any further.

As Monday’s game spilled into Tuesday, it was the third longest game for the Dodgers since 1990.

The loss was twice as rough for the Dodgers considering how they got there. Kenley Jansen couldn’t get the job done in the ninth inning for his first save of the season. With two outs and nobody on in the ninth, Jansen walked consecutive hitters before giving up a three-run homer to Chris Owings.

In two innings early on, the big righty has allowed two homers and four runs.

The loss also wasted strong offensive efforts from Yasmani Grandal, Cody Bellinger and Logan Forsythe.

If ever there were a hot hitter to start the year, Grandal is right up there. The Dodger backstop reached base five more times on Monday, going 3-for-6 with a two-run homer and a double to go along with two walks.

Grandal has now reached safely in 10 of his 20 plate appearances this season.

Bellinger had four hits and a walk in eight trips to the plate. It was the second four-hit game of his young career (7/15/17 at Miami).

Forsythe — hitless in the first four games — was finally able to come through with a pair of hits, including a homer in the sixth inning that gave the Dodgers the go-ahead run at the time.

Dbacks starter Taijuan Walker would last five innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out four. Walker allowed at least two baserunners in four of the five innings of work but avoided giving up a run after the three-run first.

The Dodgers would tack on a pair of RBI-singles by Bellinger and Joc Pederson for some insurance with a 6-3 lead in the ninth, although the bullpen had been lights out. Other than Jansen, that is.

Hyun-jin Ryu didn’t have the 2018 debut he had hoped for, allowing three runs on five hits and five walks. The command wasn’t there for Ryu all night, giving up a run on back-to-back doubles in the first and walking in another in the third.

It would be Ketel Marte’s second triple of the night that would finally chase Ryu with two outs in the fourth and Paul Goldschmidt due up next. But Pedro Baez would get a groundout to end the inning.

Up next

The Dodgers will go back to the top of the rotation as they send Clayton Kershaw to the mound in the second game of the series. The Dbacks will counter with right-hander Zack Godley in his 2018 debut.

Monday particulars

Home run: Yasmani Grandal (1), Logan Forsythe (1), Chris Owings (1)

WP - Fernando Salas (1-1): 3 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 2 walks

LP - Wilmer Font (0-1): 4 ¹⁄₃ IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts