Arizona Diamondbacks have no answers as Dodgers complete 3-game sweep in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — Across three days in this city, the Diamondbacks’ starting pitching was wrecked and their offense descended into a funk. They can only hope it was merely a matter of the opposition and not the beginning of another tailspin.
The Diamondbacks, who lost 7-0 on Wednesday night, were swept in three games by the Dodgers. They were outscored 23-5. They trailed for all but four innings in the series. They led for only two. Their top three starting pitchers coughed up 18 earned runs in 14 1/3 innings. Their lineup hit a collective .204.
“We know we’re better than that,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “It starts with everyone. It starts with me on down. Nobody is exempt from this. We’ve got to be better.”
It was not just that they were throttled by the Dodgers, a team that has done this sort of thing to them for years, it is that it happened at a time when the Diamondbacks were riding high, seemingly believing the gap between themselves and the Dodgers was not as wide as the standings suggest. After this series, it is fair to wonder if it is actually wider.
Lovullo went to great lengths not to take anything away from the Dodgers, but he made clear he did not think the opponent fully explained his team’s performance. His players seemed to take the opposite viewpoint: Not alibiing for their play but weighting it more toward the buzzsaw they faced.
“It’s a good team,” first baseman Christian Walker said. “We can expect more out of ourselves, but it’s a good team. I don’t have any answers, I don’t know. Tough series.”
Added shortstop Nick Ahmed: “We played a good baseball team. And we didn’t play how we’re capable of.”
Right-hander Brandon Pfaadt became the latest Diamondbacks starter to get torched by the Dodgers. In four innings, he gave up six runs (five earned) and served up a pair of homers. He followed right-handers Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly to the mound this series. The club’s top three starters never stood a chance.
The Diamondbacks now find themselves on the outside looking in at the National League wild-card race. They are a half-game back of the San Francisco Giants for the third and final spot, with the Cincinnati Reds just a half game behind the Diamondbacks.
Making matters worse is what is next: the Baltimore Orioles, an upstart club with the best record in the American League. The teams begin a three-game series at Chase Field on Friday evening.
“We still know we have a good team,” Ahmed said. “We’re playing another good team this weekend coming up with Baltimore. We’ve got to learn from it quick and individually make the adjustments we need to make.”
For the better part of the past three weeks, the Diamondbacks have gone about righting their ship. One of the better teams in baseball at the season’s midway point, they stumbled hard beginning in July and into August. But they pulled their season from the brink with the 12-3 run they were on when this series began.
Now they have to make sure they aren’t about to collapse all over again.
“I was feeling very good about things and that’s why I feel like it could turn quickly,” Lovullo said. “It’s not a nine-game drag like we had; it’s just a couple, few games. On Monday, I felt like we were in a position to potentially win the game and we didn’t. The past two games have been clunkers. I think we’re going to digest it and be OK.”
There is no denying the quality of the opposition. The streaking Dodgers won for the 24th time in August, tying the club mark for the most in a single month since the franchise arrived in Los Angeles. They are a lock to win their 10th division title in the past 11 years.
The Dodgers scored four times in the third behind a pair of two-run shots from Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward. They added two more in the fourth on Max Muncy’s two-run double.
The Diamondbacks managed just six hits, four of which came in the seventh inning or later, after they were already down big.
“The Dodgers are really good,” Walker said. “It’s not an excuse — I expected to win some of these games — but it’s just the way it went.”
Slade Cecconi seeks out Merrill Kelly for tips on change-up
LOS ANGELES — The change-up has never been a high-confidence pitch for right-hander Slade Cecconi, but the Diamondbacks’ rookie is starting to feel better about it after a conversation with a teammate.
Right-hander Merrill Kelly, whose change-up has become his go-to secondary pitch, offered some pointers to Cecconi, who implemented them in his start on Sunday against the Cincinnati Reds.
Well, sort of.
Cecconi threw the change-up only once — it went for a ball — but he said he could see the pitch growing in importance within his repertoire in time.
“I did seek him out,” Cecconi said. “I asked him. He’s got one of the best change-ups in the league. Seeing him throw it with such command and such good movement I felt like I had to try to tap into it while I have the chance.”
Cecconi said Kelly demonstrated how he throws the pitch without pronating his hand.
“He was showing me the pressure points of where he puts the pressure on the pitch and it kind of made it a little bit easier for me to throw,” Cecconi said.
In the past, Cecconi said the pitch had a tendency to cut, which would often lead to it getting hit hard. Ideally, he wants it to fade, but he said he would settle for it to not cutting.
Cecconi might have only thrown the pitch once, but the action on it impressed pitching coach Brent Strom.
“It was a really good one,” Strom said. “We’re going to press on him to throw his change-up more often. I think we’ll see more of them in the coming games. It’s a really good pitch.”
Cecconi, who has a 2.57 ERA in 21 innings in the majors, has thrown his fastball most often, 59.3 percent of the time, followed by his slider (27.2 percent), curveball (9 percent) and change-up (4.5 percent).
Kelly is holding opposing hitters to a .163 average against his change-up, eliciting whiffs on 32 percent of swings.
Coming up
Thursday: Off.
Friday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zach Davies (1-5, 6.93) vs. Orioles LHP Cole Irvin (1-3, 4.78).
Saturday: At Chase Field, 5:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (14-6, 3.32) vs. Orioles RHP Kyle Bradish (9-6, 3.03).
Sunday: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (10-5, 2.97) vs. Orioles RHP Jack Flaherty (8-8, 4.73).
Diamondbacks-MLB reading
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks' starting pitching, offense are no-shows in Dodgers' sweep
