Maybe he's not so perfect after all.
Rich Hill suffered his first loss and the Los Angeles Dodgers fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 7-3, on Thursday night at Chase Field.
Hill entered the game undefeated as a Dodger and had spun 19 consecutive scoreless innings in his first three starts with the Boys in Blue.
In his last start, Hill threw a perfect game through seven innings before he was pulled from his chance at history entering the eighth by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
Hill (3-1) allowed four runs on four hits with one walk and eight strikeouts in 5 and 1/3 innings in his encore performance on Thursday.
"The reason we lost is I did not execute tonight," Hill said after the game. "I need to make better pitches. It's frustrating and unacceptable. I have to be better than that."
The Dodgers trailed by only a run entering the sixth inning, but Hill issued a free pass to Jean Segura and Paul Goldschmidt brought him home with an RBI single two batters later.
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The left-hander exited stage left as Lou Coleman entered the game, but the Diamondbacks broke the game open with an RBI single from Brandon Drury followed by a three-run home run by Mitch Haniger.
LA tried to rally in the top half of the inning as Andrew Toles and Chase Utley hit back-to-back doubles to cut the lead to four, but Utley was left stranded at third and the comeback fell short.
"Rich [Hill] threw the ball well tonight," Roberts said. "But we really couldn't muster any offense."
Right-hander Archie Bradley (7-9) earned the victory for Arizona, allowing three runs on nine hits with two walks and seven strikeouts in six innings. It was Bradley's first victory in three chances against the Dodgers this season.
"He was working ahead with the fastball and burying the breaking ball down," Roberts said of Bradley. "That's a formula for success, getting ahead of hitters."
Patrick Corbin pitched the final three innings in relief and earned a rare, three-out save, his first of the season.
Los Angeles leads the National League West by 4 games after the San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2, at AT&T Park.
Players of the Game:
Mitch Haniger: Three-run home run.
Kyle Jensen: Solo shot.
Chase Utley: 3-for-3 with an RBI and run scored.
Three Takeaways:
1. Forget About Dre: Andre Ethier snapped an 0-for-9 slump with his first hit of the 2016 season. Ethier slapped a single to left field in the top of the fourth inning.
1st hit of the season for Andre Ethier after 0 for 9 start. No cheering in the press box @THEREAL_DV — Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) September 16, 2016
2. Mr. Not So Perfect: Rich Hill followed up his seven-inning perfect performance in his last start against the Marlins, by suffering his first loss of the season as a Dodger. Hill allowed a home run to Kyle Jensen in the second to break up his 20-inning scoreless streak and took exception to an inside fastball by Archie Bradley in the fifth. The benches cleared as Hill barked at Bradley all the way down the first base line.
Kyle Jensen's HR off Rich Hill, ended Hill's streak at 27 consecutive batters faced without allowing a baserunner — ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 16, 2016
3. Meet the Man: Justin Turner was named by his teammates as the 2016 represenative of the Marvin Miller of the Year Award. The award goes to the player whose on-field performance and contributions to his community inspre others to higher levels of achievement.
#Dodgers nominated @redturn2 for Marvin Miller Award. Now you can vote for him. Details:https://t.co/9QnFUMfTzV pic.twitter.com/9ZxDFfs8ee — Dodger Blue (@DodgerBlue1958) September 15, 2016
Up Next:
Dodgers (82-64): Los Angeles looks to the rematch between Kenta Maeda and their former Cy Young Award finalist on Friday at 6:40PM PST.
Diamondbacks (62-84): Zack Greinke gets another crack at his former team after he was tagged for eight runs at Dodger Stadium earlier this month.
All quotes courtesy of TWC's SportsNetLA.
