Arizona Diamondbacks: Diamondbacks unable to rally, fall 3-2

In a pitching duel worthy of an October NLDS matchup, the Arizona Diamondbacks fell 3-2 to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Zack Greinke pitched 6.2 innings while fighting some control issues. Greinke quickly gave up a solo home run to Dodgers’ rookie phenom Cody Bellinger in the second inning.

But, Greinke settled in just as quickly. He struckout eight and walked four but ultimately gave up three runs on four hits.

The Diamondbacks offense hit more extra base hits on Wednesday than singles, but they are still struggling with runners in scoring position. The team was 1-for-5 with RISP in Wednesday’s game.

On the offensive side, Paul Goldschmidt tied the game after Bellinger’s homerun with a solo shot of his own in the fourth inning, but was otherwise silenced. The Diamondbacks also strung together a few hits in the sixth inning to take the lead 2-1.

The lead was short-lived. Greinke gave up doubles to Cody Bellinger and Joc Pederson in the seventh. With a tie game, Greinke gave up the go-ahead run on a single by Yasiel Puig before exiting the game.

Greinke had battled Puig in the third inning, eventually walking the loud outfielder. Throughout the next at-bat, Greinke would throw six pickoff attempts in order to hold Puig at first. He was booed for it by the Dodgers fans in attendance.

While the damage was already done, Jake Barrett and Archie Bradley combined their efforts to face and retire four Dodgers batters. The two relievers are part of a bullpen that seems to have found their groove.

Andrew Chafin, despite a rocky season, was given the ball in the ninth inning. With two outs, Chafin loaded the bases. The Dodgers failed to add to their lead.

The Diamondbacks, with the most comeback wins in all of baseball (34), were unable to rally. If this is a preview of a potential NLDS matchup, let’s hope the outcome is different.

The last game of the series, which will determine the series winner will take place on Thursday at 6:40 p.m. Rookie Anthony Banda will face an intimidating Yu Darvish.

Banda is chasing his second Major League win, but the young southpaw will need the run support to do it. Run support will not come easy against Darvish.