Dodgers Lose to D-Backs in 12

A night after the Dodgers and Diamondbacks abused each other, the two teams took it out on the public Wednesday night. For four hours, 21 minutes the two teams tried to best one another. It took a wild 12th inning to decide things as the D-Backs took the series win with an 8-6 victory.

Extra innings were all but assured after reliver Chris Withrow came in to relieve starter Ryu Hyun-Jin in the seventh inning.

"He's really good," manager Don Mattingly said. "You get a power arm."

It looked like a swimming debut for Withrow after he struck out A.J. Pollack and got Gerardo Parra to line out to right field. Then it hit. "Really that's just bad luck," Mattingly said.

Singles by Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Ross and Miguel Montero tied the game up giving Withrow his first blown save in his first big league game. At least he fits in.

As the innings dragged on and on, the pitches made with an evermore painful delibertaion, the further minds got from what was going to be the battle between two rookies. D-Backs Patrick Corbin was one of three Major League pitchers with a 9-0 record, and he was armed with a 1.98 ERA. And the Dodgers had Ryu who also had a good ERA at 2.72.

But it wasn't the pitchers' duel one expected. After being given a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth, Juan Uribe led the charge for the Dodgers in the bottom of the fifth inning leading off with a double into left field.

After Andre Ethier and Ramon Hernandez grounded to second, the latter of which scored Uribe, Alex Castellanos, pressed into duty because of Puig's scratch, hit a ground-rule double.

Jokingly I told the folks around me that Ryu would hit a homer. He did something even more miraculous. He lined the ball into right field, the ball getting under the glove of a diving Gerardo Parra and rolling to the wall. Ryu thought he could, thought he could, thought he could, and much to the shock of the 41,927 in the crowd, he made it to third base standing up.

Mattingly didn't know it was ruled a triple — he stifled a laugh when told. "They gave him a triple on that?"

"He's swung the bat pretty well," he commented once the laughter died down. "The surprise was Parra missed something out there. He seems to catch everything we hit out there."

While the image of Ryu huffing and puffing to get to third base was a bit amusing, he said he felt fine. "I didn't expect that. I thought [Parra] was going to catch it, so I don't count on that being a real triple."

Mattingly isn't fooled though. "This guy is a really good athlete. You see it when he covers first base. His footwork is really good."

Nick Punto's singled scored Ryu and tied the game, and Punto scored on Adrian Gonzalez's single to give the Dodgers the 4-3 lead.

Meanwhile Ryu wasn't perfect by any means. He gave up 11 hits, all singles, and two walks. Of the four singles he gave up to lead off the fourth inning, three came home to score. He attributed some of that from pitching on four days rest for the first time this season.

"My fastball was down the middle and elevated, and my velocity was a little bit off," Ryu said.

"Hyun-Jin hangs in there all night long," Mattingly commented noting that the four double plays the Dodgers turned helped keep them in the game.

Everything was set up for a nice story for the Dodgers. A day after the base-brawl, the first casualty was made public. Despite suspensions and fines not being handed out, Yasiel Puig was scratched from the initial lineup after suffering shoulder stiffness during batting practice.

Staring at perhaps a 21st disabled list entry, Puig made a remarkable turnaround coming into the game in the 12th inning. He even made a throw on Cliff Pennington's single to the plate that limited Arizona to only one run.

"They worked on him throughout the whole game," Mattingly said. "Obviously you see that throw was pretty good."

Not good was the combination of Ronald Belisario and Brandon League who combined to give up five hits and two walks to give Arizona a four-run 12th. The Dodgers tried to rally in the bottom half of the inning. Tim Federwicz representing the winning run for the Dodgers with Skip Schumaker and Luis Cruz on base hit into a force to shortstop to end the game.

"These guys have been battling," Mattingly said.

And so while the national media descended upon Dodger Stadium to recap the recaps that were written last night, Mattingly and the Dodgers were trying to take a step forward. What he saw from his depleted lineup was some glimmer of hope.

With Hanley Ramirez and A.J. Ellis due back in the lineup on Friday in Pittsburgh, they will need as many players as possible for when the suspensions come down. But Mattingly isn't down on that.

"If we play with this attitude all of the time, I think we've got a chance to rattle off some games," Mattingly said. "These guys are fighting."