Dodgers' defense and bullpen don't hold up in loss to Diamondbacks

Bill Plunkett, The Orange County Register on Jul 11, 2026

Published in Baseball

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LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani isn’t exactly limping toward the All-Star break. But the Los Angeles Dodgers are stumbling a little bit.

Scratched from his pitching start on Friday and headed for a doctor’s appointment on Sunday rather than Philadelphia for the All-Star break, Ohtani nonetheless homered for the third time in the past four games. The Dodgers, however, played sub-standard defense for the second time in three games and lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 9-3, on Friday night.

Fundamentally sound on defense and proud of it despite the oldest position player group in MLB this year, the Dodgers have committed six errors leading directly to six unearned runs in their past three games (two losses) and indirectly to others.

The decision to scratch Ohtani because of an irritated left knee meant the Dodgers went with a bullpen game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The bullpen strategy requires that each link in the relief relay be solid. That was not the case Friday night. Of the seven pitchers who took the mound in Ohtani’s place, only Jack Dreyer (the seventh inning) and Alex Vesia (the ninth) escaped without being charged with a run.

Opener Kyle Hurt gave up hits to three of the first four batters he faced. Gabriel Moreno’s single drove in one run. A second scored when right fielder Kyle Tucker’s throw to third base got away from Tommy Edman and Hurt was not there backing up the base.

In the fourth inning, Will Klein gave way to Brock Stewart with a runner on. Stewart gave up a two-out, two-run home run to the Diamondbacks’ No. 9 hitter, Tim Tawa.

In the fifth, the Diamondbacks scored twice again, this time without needing a hit. Stewart walked Geraldo Perdomo to start the inning. Corbin Carroll dribbled a ball onto the infield grass that was fielded by catcher Dalton Rushing. He threw to second base for a force out, but the throw was short and bounced past shortstop Mookie Betts into center field.

A ground out brought one run in. A balk and a wild pitch by Edgardo Henriquez produced another.

The Dodgers’ third error of the night – a poor throw by third baseman Edman on a sacrifice bunt – figured into two more runs for the Diamondbacks in the sixth inning.

The Dodgers’ response on offense was loud but not sustained.

Bum knee and all, Ohtani took a 1-and-1 fastball down and in from Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez and lined it over the wall in left-center field. Despite whatever discomfort Ohtani is feeling in his left knee, he has gone 6 for 19 with three home runs and seven RBIs over his past five games.

Andy Pages followed with his own drive, making it back-to-back home runs.

But the Dodgers didn’t threaten again until they put runners at the corners with two outs in the fifth inning. Rodriguez got Freddie Freeman to ground out, and the Dodgers didn’t have another hit until the ninth inning. Edman led off the ninth with a single and scored when Diamondbacks left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. played Miguel Rojas’ double poorly.