Clayton Kershaw went 1-2-3 in the first inning, striking out Gerardo Parra to end it, and all looked good.
Then the second inning hit, and the Dodgers never recovered.
The Diamondbacks sent nine batters to the plate in a four run inning, and that was enough to beat the Dodgers, 4-1. Maybe if the Dodgers were facing anybody but Dan Haren, they would have had a shot, but not on this night.
The Dodgers scrounged together seven hits, three from Manny Ramirez and two from Matt Kemp. Other than those two, the offense did a big pile of nothing. The first three hitters of Rafael Furcal, Russell Martin, and Andre Ethier combined to go 0-for-10. Ah, not exactly the best way to set the table.
In the second, the DBacks took advantage of Kershaw's walks to get some big hits and drive in runs. It all started with a walk to Mark Reynolds, and it was all downhill from there. Miguel Montero doubled him home for the 1-0 lead. Augie Ojeda hit an RBI groundout, Haren an RBI single, and Ojeda scored on a wild pitch.
The only run of the night for the Dodgers came in the sixth. After James Loney flied out to deep right center, Kemp connected with a solo shot to left for his 17th of the season. He still strikes out too much, but with a .313 average, 17 homers, 76 RBIs, and 23 stolen bases, he's certainly had his best season of his young career.
As for Kershaw, he was once again victimized by too many pitches because of too many walks. In only 4 and 1/3 innings, he managed to throw a whopping 99 pitches. He actually struck out nine, but when his stuff wasn't on, he was all over the place.
The bullpen did a great job in keeping this at least within striking distance. Ramon Troncoso, Ronald Belisario, and Guillermo Mota combined to finish the game by giving up no runs on only one hit.
Like the rest of Major League Baseball these days, there was a bit of a beanball war as the game progressed. Belisario hit Reynolds the batter after giving up a double to Parra. In response, Haren tagged Ethier with two down in the eighth. Nothing came of it though, but perhaps this weekend something will develop.
Chad Qualls came in for the save, but the Dodgers tried to make some noise. Casey Blake walked to start, then was forced at second by Loney's grounder. Kemp hit a double for two runners in scoring position. But, Orlando Hudson and the pinch-hitting Mark Loretta could not make anything happen to end the game.
The good news to all of this? The Giants lost to the Mets, and the Rockies lost to the Marlins, so it's all a wash at the end of the day. Both the Giants and Rockies are in the East Coast this weekend, so let's hope they don't adjust too well.
Hiroki Kuroda will get the call tonight, and he's coming off a great start in San Francisco. After Kershaw couldn't last long, the Dodgers need Kuroda to pitch effectively tonight.
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