PHOENIX -- Dodgers manager Dave Roberts knows a great thing when he sees it.
He recognizes how good his team is and how strong his starting pitching has been this year. The rest of baseball is starting to realize the same thing. But Roberts isn’t surprised and he’s not taking it for granted.
On Wednesday, it was Kenta Maeda’s turn to take the mound in the series finale against the D-backs at Chase Field, and the starter was tasked with meeting the high bar his team has set. And he did so, at least briefly. The right-hander gave up two hits and one run in five innings in the 70-pitch outing. The bullpen did not fare as well, though, and the result was a 3-2 11th-inning loss that ended the Dodgers’ seven-game win streak.
Maeda struck out seven and walked one batter before yielding to Julio Urías, the first of four relievers to pitch in the loss. After the defeat, Roberts explained he wanted to get Urias, who went on to pitch two scoreless innings, in the game and avoid facing an Arizona lineup full of lefties the third time around with his team ahead, 2-1.
“Right there for me, with Julio rested and a very heavy left-handed lineup, I felt Kenta gave us what he had and what he needed to give us a chance to win a baseball game,” the manager said.
Maeda, who has pitched into the seventh inning three times in his previous 11 starts this season, was surprised he was pulled from the game. His manager said it was the right decision.
“We have pushed Kenta at times and there are times to taper back a little bit,” Roberts said. “You look at where the game is at and that runway and I felt that Julio with his usage gave us the best chance to go two more innings.”
Will Smith provided the early offense with a two-run home run off D-backs starter Jon Duplantier in the third inning. The D-backs scored their first run of the game on an RBI double by David Peralta in the fourth inning. They tied the game up in the bottom of the eighth with Pedro Báez on the mound, when a ground ball off the bat of Jarrod Dyson bounced off the artificial surface in front of first base into the outfield to score Tim Locastro, who had been hit by a pitch.
Peralta drove home the winning run with a single off Scott Alexander in the 11th after Eduardo Escobar led off the frame with a triple.
“For me, just keep working,” Alexander said. “I hate to come in and lose games and give up runs, but it’s a tough job and it is what it is. It’s all part of it.”
Roberts has taken a proud but measured tone when talking about his team’s success overall, particularly its achievements on the mound all week in Arizona. He knows that streaks -- winning, pitching or otherwise -- run both ways. He knows bad hops happen and it is only June 5th, after all. But he’s also shown it’s not too early to give credit to the front office that put the rotation together, the pitchers for their preparedness and his coaching staff.
“The common thread is that they don’t walk guys and they strike guys out,” Roberts said. “Outside of that, you are getting into characteristics that are completely different pitch mixes.”
The numbers say what Roberts won’t.
Dodgers starters have quality starts in 20 of their last 23 outings and are 16-1 in that span. They are 22-2 with a 2.15 ERA with 237 strikeouts and 30 walks since April 25. On Friday, Walker Buehler struck out 11 hitters and allowed only two hits in eight innings in his best outing of the season. A day later, Hyun-Jin Ryu, the National League Pitcher of the Month for May, threw seven scoreless innings.
“As starting pitchers and only throwing 70 pitches and going five innings deep is not a pleasant thing,” Maeda said. “I was pretty confident I could get those guys out, but as [Roberts] said, the starting pitchers are so good he wanted to use some of the relief pitching tonight.”
By contrast, the Dodgers bullpen is 12-12 this season with 10 blown saves. But perhaps the loss could have been avoided if Baez hadn’t hit Locastro with a pitch, or if Dyson’s batted ball hadn’t taken a funky hop.
Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to pitch against the Giants in San Francisco on Friday. The team has a scheduled day off Thursday.
“Our starting pitchers are having a good outing every single night and that’s a big boost for me to work harder and go out there and get those guys out,” Maeda said. “I’m hoping we can carry this on until the end of the season.”