D-backs hope close-fought battle with LA can be 'catalyst'

PHOENIX -- The Dodgers-Diamondbacks matchup Friday night was not a postseason game, but it sure felt like one.

A near-sellout crowd packed Chase Field to see if the second-place D-backs could cut into the four-game lead the Dodgers had in the NL West.

The answer turned out to be that they couldn't, but boy did they make it exciting as their ninth-inning rally came up just short in a 10-9 loss.

"Hopefully it's a catalyst for us to show up tomorrow and keep that momentum going," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said.

Clayton Kershaw got the start for L.A. The last time the left-hander faced the D-backs was in Game 1 of the NL Division Series last year, when the D-backs chased him in the first inning with a barrage of hits and homers.

After winning the first two games of that series at Dodger Stadium, the D-backs completed the three-game sweep at Chase Field, something that was not forgotten by those in the visiting dugout.

“Disappointing is certainly an understatement [to describe] how it ended [last season], and this is sort of the scene of the crime, so it’s very fresh in my mind," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "And although there are some different pieces to this ballclub, a lot of the same guys are still here that felt the pain of last year, and this is a big series. We all say they are all big, but when you’re playing a division rival that’s trailing but on the cusp, it’s a big series. So we gotta play well. We gotta win baseball games.”

The two teams traded haymakers (not literally, though they did that a couple of times a decade ago) in the first three innings, battling to a 5-5 stalemate.

The Dodgers, though, took a 6-5 lead and seemed to put a nail in the Arizona coffin in the seventh when Will Smith hit a three-run homer off Paul Sewald.

It's been a rough go of it for Sewald, who was acquired at the 2023 Trade Deadline to close games, a job he did well as the D-backs marched to the World Series.

This year, Sewald opened the year on the injured list and after initially pitching well in his return, he slumped badly enough that Lovullo took him out of the closer's role.

Since then, the D-backs have tried to gradually work him back into leverage situations, with Lovullo saying he's seen progress even after Friday's game.

Sewald allowed a solo homer to Shohei Ohtani in the eighth in what seemed to just be a tack-on run but would prove to be crucial.

That's because, as has been their modus operandi over the last two months, the D-backs found a way to battle back.

"I think the entire game, there was never a doubt that we could give ourselves a chance to win it," first baseman Josh Bell said. "You know, still a lot of shouting, a lot of cheers for every [good take], every hit, every good cut. So I think that's what's special about this group in here. It seems like every series we have a game where the rest of the league might count themselves out, but we're not that team."

With the Dodgers having already used their leverage relievers and trying to stay away from closer Evan Phillips, Anthony Banda -- pitching for a third straight day -- got the ball in the ninth, and the D-backs began to chip away at the lead.

Jake McCarthy drove home two runs with a single and Eugenio Suárez brought home two more with a home run to left that brought Arizona to within a run.

But that would be as close as the D-backs would get, as Banda retired Corbin Carroll and Luis Guillorme to end the game.

"We had some really good moments offensively," Lovullo said. "I think it was 13 hits, four walks, three hit-by-pitches, and it was a big number. It just was unfortunate that we couldn't hold them down from a pitching standpoint. So, we got to pitch better. We got to be a little better, a little bit sharper. We got to land pitches. We got to command the fastball and use that, and to set up other pitches and work off of that."