PHOENIX — The state of a struggling Dodgers bullpen was abundantly clear when supervisor Dave Roberts turned to not one, however two profession beginning pitchers in an effort to piece collectively a win on Wednesday evening.
Roki Sasaki protected a two-run lead with an electrical 1-2-3 seventh inning. After the D-backs struck for 3 runs off Alex Vesia and Edgardo Henriquez within the eighth, Clayton Kershaw labored a scoreless ninth. The Dodgers finally known as on seven bullpen arms to eke out a 5-4 win in 11 innings at Chase Subject, with Justin Wrobleski closing it out in the long run.
The victory lowered the Dodgers’ magic quantity to win the NL West to at least one. They lead the Padres by 2 1/2 video games — and maintain the head-to-head tiebreaker — and might clinch the division with a win in Thursday’s sequence finale.
The 23-year-old Sasaki, making his return after lacking 4 months resulting from impingement in his proper shoulder, had not pitched in reduction as knowledgeable earlier than this yr, his first within the Majors. His stuff ticked up in reduction, maxing out at 99.8 mph on his four-seamer. He struck out two of the three batters he confronted.
Kershaw, who will retire after this season, made his first regular-season reduction look since Sept. 29, 2019 (he additionally got here out of the ‘pen in Sport 5 of the NL Division Collection that yr). Because of an inning-ending diving catch from Tommy Edman in middle subject, Kershaw additionally confronted the minimal, preserving a tie to ship the sport to extras.
The Dodgers missed out on an opportunity to take the lead within the high of the tenth, when automated runner Hyeseong Kim — pinch-running for Ben Rortvedt — was thrown out on the plate on an aggressive ship after a Mookie Betts single.
One inning later, after Jack Dreyer and Blake Treinen wiggled their approach out of a jam within the backside of the tenth, Edman looped a single into left-center to place the Dodgers in entrance. Wrobleski slammed the door to guard the one-run lead within the eleventh.
