Dodgers offer no resistance to Patrick Corbin in Diamondbacks’ sweep

The Dodgers sleepwalked through their series finale in Phoenix on Wednesday afternoon, getting decimated by Patrick Corbin in a 3-0 loss to the Diamondbacks to complete a three-game sweep at Chase Field.

With five losses in seven games the Dodgers have their worst start to a season since 1998, and they have been held to zero or one run four times, including three shutouts.

Corbin retired his first 14 batters faced^ including eight by strikeout, en route to 7⅓ scoreless innings. He struck out 12 on the night to establish a career high, the seventh time he has reached double digits in his career.

The only hit allowed by Corbin was a bloop double by Matt Kemp in the fifth. Kemp walked in the eighth to end Corbin’s day, but the left-hander retired 22 of his 24 batters faced. At the plate Corbin bettered that with two hits of his own, including a double and a run scored.

Alex Wood got picket-fenced thanks to leadoff doubles in each of the first three frames. All three scored thanks to a thriving Arizona manufacturing industry. The first inning featured two ground outs to score the run, the second involved a stolen base* and a sacrifice fly, and the third was headed that way with another sacrifice to third, but Ketel Marte ruined the productive out party with an RBI single to give the Diamondbacks a 3-0 advantage.

*It was Chris Owings who doubled and stole third in the second inning, his 12th successful steal of third base in 13 career attempts. Among players with at least 50 stolen base attempts, Owings (60-for-69 in his career) ranks fourth all-time in steal percentage at 87.0%. Chase Utley (152-for-173) is third at 87.9%, and tops among active players.

Wood allowed another double in the sixth inning but stranded this one. It tied a career high for Wood in both doubles and extra-base hits allowed in a start, the latter done four other times.

^In Wood’s two starts his opponent has flirted with perfection to some extent, with Johnny Cueto retiring the first 18 Dogers last Friday, followed by Corbin’s 14 straight to start this game. That kind of run support will lend itself to an 0-1 record for Wood despite a 1.93 ERA.

The Dodgers were one out away from a series-opening win on Monday night of this series, but not only did they give up that game but with just two runs scored over the last 23 innings and an Arizona sweep.

Up next

The Dodgers are off Thursday and in theory will start a weekend series against the Giants on Friday. But heavy rain in San Francisco could wreak havoc with the schedule. As it stands Derek Holland is slated to start the series opener for the Giants, while the Dodgers are in limbo but ultimately chose Kenta Maeda for the first game of the series.

Wednesday particulars

Home runs: none

WP - Patrick Corbin (2-0): 7⅓ IP, 1 hit, 1 walk, 12 strikeouts

LP - Alex Wood (0-1): 6 IP, 6 hits, 3 runs, 5 strikeouts

Sv - Brad Boxberger (2): 1 IP, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts