Marte's Blast, Burnes' Quality Start Not Enough to Beat Dodgers

The Arizona Diamondbacks dropped the series finale to the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1. Despite winning the first game, Arizona heads to St. Louis with a missed opportunity to win a series in spite of stellar pitching from the rotation.

With a tired bullpen, the Diamondbacks needed Corbin Burnes to go deep in this start. The right-hander was in top form again against the Dodgers, although there was one pitch he'd like to have back. Burnes allowed three runs on four hits, one walk, and eight strikeouts over seven innings. Between him, Nelson, and Brandon Pfaadt, Diamondbacks starters held the Dodgers to seven runs over 18 innings.

The cutter and curveball combination kept the Dodgers off balance, combining for 13 whiffs and all eight of his strikeouts. The curveball was especially effective, getting seven swings-and-misses on eight swings, all with two strikes.

"He was nasty today, it's really fun to play behind him," Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suárez told DbacksTV reporter Jody Jackson. "He makes really good pitches, he got everybody. Just one pitch, it's tough, but this is baseball and that's why we love this game. He made that mistake right there and Teo[scar Hernández] was ready to hit it."

Since missing a start earlier this month, Burnes has looked like the ace the Diamondbacks thought they were getting. He's recorded four consecutive Quality Starts and allowed just three runs on 11 hits over his last 20 innings, with 23 strikeouts and six walks.

On offense, the Diamondbacks struggled against Dustin May once again. The right-hander's sinker and sweeper combination befuddled Arizona hitters, striking out eight over six innings. The lone run they scored on the right-hander came courtesy of Ketel Marte.

"When you face a guy like this, having good stuff and he's commanding it well, it's tough," said Suárez.

Marte was up 2-0 in the count and got a center-cut sinker from May, clobbering it 425 feet to the right field bleachers. The home run marked his seventh of the year and the second-longest home run he has hit in Dodger Stadium. The longest was his first home run with the Diamondbacks, hit 440 feet back on July 6, 2017.

That gave Arizona a 1-0 lead, which Burnes held for some time. However, the Dodgers finally broke through against him in the sixth, when the lineup turned over for the third time.

Burnes gave up singles to Miguel Rojas and Mookie Betts but was able to retire Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman to get to two outs. Following two whiffs on cutters to Teoscar Hernández, he was one strike away from escaping the jam. But he grooved a slider to Hernández, who crushed a deep dive to straightaway center to put the Dodgers on top 3-1.

The blast not only ended Burnes' consecutive scoreless innings streak at 21, but it also sent the Diamondbacks to their second consecutive loss. Arizona had a couple of big chances to score, first in the sixth to pad their lead, and the other in the eighth as a potential answer. The big hit eluded them, as they went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, all coming in those two innings.