After securing a road series win against the Marlins, the Dodgers started their four-game series in Arizona against the Diamondbacks, and they looked to start it well behind their ace. However, Yoshinobu Yamamoto unraveled in messy start to the 4th inning and the Dodger lineup hit the ball hard but ran into some tough luck, and thus the series started with a 5-3 loss.
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For the Dodgers, Yamamoto was looking to build on his excellent season so far, but despite early zeros there were some worrying signs when he got ahead of guys but couldn’t put them away. Still, he worked around back-to-back two-out singles in the 2nd and saw a single in the 3rd erased by a double play, and had three scoreless to start. He wouldn’t make it four.
A lead-off walk in the 4th was followed by an infield single, and then Yoshi got ahead of the next batter 0-2 before hitting him to load the bases. After falling behind 2-0 to Gabriel Moreno, he threw a flat cutter to him, which he pummeled to right for a 4-0 Diamondbacks lead just like that.
It Just Means More(no) pic.twitter.com/zcPxNsowDN
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 9, 2025
Amusingly, he finally struck out the next two batters before ending the 4th, but too little and too late.
In the 5th, Ketel Marte lined a ball off the top of the wall for a homer to extend the Diamondbacks lead to 5-0.
Absolutely smoked. pic.twitter.com/T5AUbM1clp
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 9, 2025
Not what you want from your ace, but also some unfortunate sequencing: 5 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 88 Pitches.
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In a way, I suppose it didn’t matter much, as it was just one of those days against Brandon Pfaadt. The Dodgers hit the ball early and often, but it amounted to no runs. They got a two-out walk and single in the 1st, as well as a two-out single in the 3rd, but had nothing to show for it. Really though, it was Michael Conforto and James Outman barreling balls in the air that went for deep outs that hurt the cause the most.
Hate baseball. pic.twitter.com/nmI8VFzHgv
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) May 9, 2025
That continued in the 4th as a lead-off walk was stranded and Conforto again rifled a ball right into somebody’s glove. They got nothing in the 5th as Shohei Ohtani drilled a ball that found a glove to end that frame as well.
In the 6th, after Freddie Freeman lined a ball that finally got through via deflection with one-out, Will Smith drilled a ball to right for another lineout, which cost them at least a run after Max Muncy rolled a single to corner the runners. The rally ended there.
Pfaadt’s day was done after a lead-off walk and one out in the 7th, which the pen worked around to complete the inning.
It was the 8th where the Dodgers got their golden chance. A Mookie Betts single was followed by a one-out Smith single, and a Muncy hard hit finally fell in for a double, but it was of the ground-rule variety so it only plated one run.
A hard-hit ball finally falls in and they still get unlucky as Max Muncy gets a ground-rule double and limits the damage to a run. pic.twitter.com/mlON3jDtg4
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) May 9, 2025
Andy Pages followed with a single to make it 5-2, and that cornered the runners with one out.
Andy Pages follows with a single to plate another and all of a sudden the tying run is at the plate. pic.twitter.com/PO8Ey7V0KG
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) May 9, 2025
While Conforto hit the ball hard twice today, they needed him to lift the ball in this scenario … and he grounded into a double play to kill the rally off.
FUCK
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— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) May 8, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Usually when I write a complete loser recap in the 4th there’s a decent rewrite chance out of Baseball Gods spiting me, but Conforto anti-aura is stronger.
— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) May 8, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Just brutal, so fucking brutal. Still trailing 5-2.
Taking over for Yoshi was Jack Dreyer, who worked around a lead-off double in the 6th and then another in the 7th (also an intentional walk), and gave up just a two-out single in 8th to close the book on the D-backs, so I guess he’s done for the series now.
All of that for a losing effort as they got just a Shohei homer in the 9th (his 11th) to make it 5-3 before it ended.
No. 11 for Shohei Ohtani! 💪 pic.twitter.com/KEaCUZOsXV
— MLB (@MLB) May 9, 2025
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Same two teams, same place, and same time of 3:40 PM HT/6:40 PM PT/9:40 PM ET tomorrow, and it’ll be Roki Sasaki looking to continue making progress against Eduardo Rodriguez, who was almost an old friend.
