Bradley loses control quickly, Dodgers pounce to beat D-backs
PHOENIX -- Archie Bradley was on his way to pitching the best game of his young career. It quickly derailed and instead again left Bradley and the Diamondbacks with the feeling of unfulfilled promise.
The right-hander retired 13 of the first 14 Dodgers he faced and held them without a hit into the fifth inning. Bradley had seven strikeouts at that point, four of which caught the Dodgers looking. He was cruising, and staked to a two-run lead.
But everything turned when Joc Pederson jerked a Bradley fastball well into the right-field bleachers with one out in the fifth. Bradley's rhythm and release point were gone as he walked a pair and gave up three hits, including two more home runs, to the final nine he faced in an eventual 7-4 loss.
"Given the two-run (lead), I went out for the fifth with a lot of confidence," Bradley said after he fell to 2-3 and his ERA jumped to 5.66. "The homer to break up the no-hitter? Whatever; so be it. That's part of the game. But the two walks that followed is what really bothers me."
Bradley walked Yasmani Grandal, on four pitches, and Howie Kendrick after Pederson's blast. He'd walked just one before then. Chase Utley drove in both with two outs to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.
"After that he just didn't seem to have the same stuff," D-backs manager Chip Hale said. "It's a learning process for him. Those are some good hitters who sort of baited him into some things."
The D-backs tied the game on an unearned run, but Justin Turner homered on Bradley's first pitch of the sixth and Pederson hit his second home run of the game three batters later to end Bradley's night in a much different fashion than it once looked it would finish.
"It was a tough one to watch because he had no-hit stuff. He really did," Hale said after his team's three-game hit streak came to an end. "His stuff was electric tonight. ... It's a tough one for him because those numbers, his stuff was better than those numbers."
Bradley's final line was five runs on four hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out nine. Each of the four hits resulted in a run.
"This is a definite lesson," Bradley said. "It's frustrating. We get on a roll, win three in a row and I have really good stuff until the fifth and then hit a wall."
Jean Segura had four hits and scored twice against Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda. But the L.A. bullpen held the D-backs to three hits in 3 2/3 innings after Maeda (6-4) left with a leg contusion from a Paul Goldschmidt comebacker.
