PHOENIX -- With the chance to put their longest skid of the season to bed, the Dodgers called on closer Edwin Díaz to slam the door on the D-backs.
Díaz walked his first batter, and the figurative door was ajar. The D-backs went on to wrench it wide open.
Díaz surrendered a walk-off two-run homer to Ryan Waldschmidt, sealing a 4-3 loss for the Dodgers on Friday night at Chase Field. L.A. has lost seven straight games, the team's longest streak since it also lost seven in a row in July 2025.
"A loss is a loss, but to get walked off never feels good," manager Dave Roberts said. "We didn't play a clean game, a great game on either side of the baseball, but we did enough to put ourselves in a position to win a game. And unfortunately, we couldn't finish it."
Said Díaz: "I’ve got to be better with that. I'm a big league pitcher, so I’ve got to make pitches. So next time when I come into the game, I have to do better."
The Dodgers came back from being hitless through five innings against Merrill Kelly and chipped away at the D-backs little by little until Andy Pages launched a go-ahead solo shot off Brandyn Garcia in the top of the eighth inning. The one-run lead wasn't much to cling onto, but it was the only lead they had all night.
Left-hander Tanner Scott preserved the lead by the skin of his teeth in the bottom of the eighth inning. He got two quick outs, but after Gabriel Moreno hit a fly ball over the head of left fielder Teoscar Hernández that fell for a double, the D-backs loaded the bases on an intentional walk to Ketel Marte and one of the unintentional variety to Ildemaro Vargas.
Scott, who threw six fastballs at an average velocity 1.5 mph lower than his season average, managed to prevail in a 12-pitch battle with Nolan Arenado, striking out the veteran third baseman to strand the bases loaded.
"I wasn’t going to let Marte, who’s as good as anybody in baseball against a left-hander, beat us with the open base," Roberts said. "Then you walk Vargas off the bench, and you start finding yourself in it. So it took him 25 pitches to get through it. But big pitch against Arenado to get through it."
Then it was Díaz's turn in the bottom of the ninth. The Dodgers' closer has not been especially sharp since returning from more than three months on the injured list after having surgery to remove loose bodies from his right elbow in April. He has nevertheless gotten the call in save situations since rejoining the club on July 29.
Díaz got ahead 1-2 on Max Kepler, but walked him. He followed by striking out Tim Tawa looking on three pitches. He also got to two strikes on Waldschmidt, but he missed badly with a 2-2 slider over the heart of the plate. Waldschmidt drove the ball to deep left-center, where it cleared the wall, clinching a victory for the home team.
Waldschmidt pumped his fist after rounding first base. All Díaz could do was shake his head as he walked off the mound.
In four outings since returning from the IL, Díaz has given up two homers and allowed four earned runs in three innings. Friday was his first blown save in that span. He's searching for his feel for his slider, which he feels has been the biggest reason behind his inconsistency.
"I have to find it tomorrow when I come to the field, because that's my pitch," Díaz said. "I’ve got a good fastball, but my slider is the strikeout pitch. And today, I missed with two strikes. That pitch right in the middle."
Díaz has had few opportunities for soft landings since returning from the IL, but he is one of the most accomplished active closers in baseball. The Dodgers signed him to fill that role, and given the way the bullpen has performed lately (5.03 ERA since July 1), Roberts felt that he had no better option than to send a shaky Díaz to the mound with a one-run lead.
"We've got to keep keeping guys in their roles that they've earned, and trying to lane guys up and try to get them getting on a run back the way we were a few weeks ago," Roberts said. "So I just don't think right now there's a clear-cut alternative."