Dodgers Bit by D-Backs in 4-2 Loss, Fall 2 Games Behind Giants

Lightning apparently does not strike twice.

One night after the Dodgers put down the Diamondbacks with a five-run seventh inning comeback, the Snakes bit back, striking down Los Angeles 4-2 on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.

Scott Kazmir squared off against the Snakes for the first time this season, with his first-inning ERA hovering over him like a great shaking cloud ready to erupt at any second.

Entering the game, Kazmir had allowed 18 runs in the first frame out of 20 starts, his first inning ERA: 8.10, all subsequent innings to follow: 3.51.

"It's frustrating, for sure," Kazmir said of his first inning woes. "Not being able to work through that first inning to put yourself in a good position for the rest of the game is frustrating, but I'm still confident out there."

Seconds into the game, the clouds opened up and rained down on the left-hander. Jean Segura hit a leadoff home run to left-center to start the game and Arizona never looked back, as they split the first two of a three-game series in Los Angeles.

"My first two pitches of the game were smooth, but the third one was a home run," Kazmir said. "I wasn't sharp early, but I used my cutter a lot more and in the later innings was able to get some quick outs."

Kazmir followed up a frightful first inning with three doubles allowed in the second frame as the Snakes staked a 3-0 lead before fans could find their seats.

Kazmir (9-4) lost his first start in July since 2010 and snapped a 13-start unbeaten streak as the left-hander allowed four runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts in 6 and 2/3 shaky innings on Saturday.

"The goal is to go out there and go as deep as you can and keep your team in the ballgame," continued Kazmir. "Tip your hat to Shiply, he pitched great out there."

Kazmir was riding a career-best seven-game winning streak and was 7-0 with a 3.73 ERA in his 13-start unbeaten streak.

His counterpart, rookie Braden Shiply (1-1), was sensational for the Snakes throwing six innings of scoreless baseball with five hits and four strikeouts in his first career victory.

"I'm super excited," Shiply said of his first big-league win. "I can't even describe how happy I am to get my first big-league win. I had a lot of friends and family here tonight. I'm thrilled, but I can't say enough about our defense tonight."

With Shipley out of the game in the seventh inning, the Dodgers looked to catch lightning in a bottle as they tried to rally from a four-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh for the second night in a row.

Scott Van Slyke hit a two-out, RBI single to put the Dodgers on the scoreboard, but was caught stealing five pitches later as the lightning LA was looking for struck down upon them in the shape of a spear-tongued Snake.

"That steal was on his own, he was trying to be aggressive, but obviously you don't want to make an out on the base," Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts said. "He thought he was going to be safe, but if you're going to steal a base there, you better be 100 percent safe."

Joc Pederson hit a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of ninth as the left-hander was sitting dead-red on full count fastball by rookie Jake Barrett. The long ball was Pederson's second straight homer in as many days and second time this year the sophomore star has hit a homer in back-to-back games.

"He's really seeing the ball well," Roberts added of Pederson. "Offensively the scoreboard didn't show the quality of our at-bats tonight. We really squared the ball up well tonight."

Despite serving up the dinger to Pederson, Barrett, an Upland, CA native recorded his third save of the season by collecting the final four outs of the game.

With the loss, the Dodgers fell two games behind the San Francisco Giants who defeated the Washington Nationals, 5-3, earlier in the day, for first place in the National League West.

Players of the Game:

Jean Segura: 2-for-3 with a home run, double, two RBI and a run scored.
Braden Shipley: No runs on five hits in 6 IP.
Adrian Gonzalez: 2-for-3 with a walk. 

Three Takeaways:

1. Seven Up: On Saturday, the seventh inning lasted 27 minutes, that is exactly 45 minutes shorter than Friday's record long seventh inning. According to Baseball Almanac, the longest inning in MLB history was a 68-minute fifth inning on May 8, 2004 between the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers. Friday's seventh inning between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks lasted an MLB-record 72 minutes!

The exact calculation of that 7th inning: 72 minutes, 12 runs scored, 8 pitchers used, 11 hits and four walks. #Dodgers #Dbacks — Steve Gilbert (@SteveGilbertMLB) July 30, 2016

2. Double Jeopardy: Dodgers' rookie Corey Seager hit his 30^th double of the season in the third inning to tie Eric Karros for the most doubles by a Los Angeles rookie in franchise history. The all-time record is 52 set by Johnny Frederick in 1929.

Corey Seager @coreyseager_5 doubles off the centerfield wall, tying him with Eric Karros with 30 for most by a rookie in #Dodgers history. — Michael J. Duarte (@michaeljduarte) July 31, 2016

3. The Undefeated: Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Scott Kazmir snapped a streak of 13 consecutive starts without a loss. His last loss came on May 9^th in a 4-2 loss to the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium. Kazmir was also undefeated in the month of July, dating back to 2010, but that streak was also snapped just two days before the end of the month.

And unbeaten in 13 starts. Hasn't lost a game in July since 2010 so..... https://t.co/wrgOCdrC7V — Alanna Rizzo (@alannarizzo) July 31, 2016

Up Next:

Diamondbacks (43-61): Patrick Corbin gets the call on Sunday for Arizona in the finale of the three-game series.

Dodgers (58-46): Los Angeles will send Bud Norris to the mound in the rubber match at 1:10PM PST.