The Arizona Diamondbacks face elimination in game three Monday night at home.
LOS ANGELES – Entering game two of this NL Division Series, there emerged two elements to the Robbie Ray Factor.
Given the Arizona Diamondbacks lefty’s penchant for pitching well against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and especially in Dodger Stadium, his ability to strike the Dodgers at opportune times clearly gathered the attention of L.A. manager Dave Roberts and his players. With Ray making his sixth start this season against the Dodgers Saturday, he came into this outing with a 3-0 record, a 2.27 ERA against the Dodgers in 2017, and had seven lifetime starts at Dodger Stadium with a 1.81 ERA.
All of which moved Roberts to tell Call to the Pen that “we have to unlock the code.” Solving the lefty would go a long way to address the first Ray Factor. Plus, the Diamondbacks needed Ray to step up and play the role of “stopper,” in addressing the second Ray Factor.
Though the defeat in game one of the NLDS was simply one game, the Diamondbacks could not afford to drop the first two games of this series against a team which recorded the best record in the league. All of which put Ray in a commanding spotlight.
To address their inability to reach Ray this season, the Dodgers decided to be patient, but persistent. When Roberts promised his team would unlock “the code,” the skipper, after the Dodgers earned an 8-5 victory over the Diamondbacks before 54,726, a sellout in Dodger Stadium Saturday, told Call to the Pen he was not ready to reveal any secrets.
Yet, his players were willing to share their game plan. Second baseman Logan Forsythe, appearing in his first postseason in a seven-year major league career, went 3-for-5 Saturday and told Call to the Pen the method was simple.
"“In the past against (Ray), we were out of our approach,” he said. “We tried to do too much. Look, he’s been tough on us, but we wanted to wait, and get the barrel on the ball. His velocity was good, but his breaking pitches were not as sharp as we have seen in the past. I thought we did a good job in one through nine to keep it in the zone.”"
From the start, Ray was inconsistent. Though the Dodgers recorded a run without a hit in the second, Ray, early in this one, was the benefactor of Paul Goldschmidt’s two-run homer off Rich Hill in the first inning. Yet, he could not hold the lead.
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Missing high and occasionally bouncing pitches, Ray was far from the acknowledged power pitcher. Instead, he ended up walking four in 4 1/3 innings, allowed four runs and absorbed the defeat. In going less than five innings, Ray ran his pitch count to 88, including 26 alone in the fourth inning.
Rather than discuss Ray individually, manager Torey Lovullo hinted that Ray’s off-night was a manifestation of the team’s overall difficulty in gaining any edge in the two games at Dodger Stadium. Afterward, Lovullo told Call to the Pen that Ray’s night was merely an aberration.
"“Our pitching has been so good all year, and set the tone for us,” he said. “It’s allowed us to play downhill baseball, and we did. (On Saturday), we kind of paced ourselves a little early, but couldn’t really get into a rhythm. We couldn’t get into flow against any one pitcher, and just didn’t go in our favor.”"
Now down 2-0 in this best-of-five series and facing elimination Monday night at home, Lovullo told Call to the Pen he maintains supreme confidence in his team and in Zack Greinke, the starter for Monday night in Chase Field.
"“We have our guy in Zack,” he said. “(Greinke) has been that guy for us all year long, and we’re built around him. If you’ve to pick one guy to stop this situation that we’re in, I think we’ve found the right guy in Zack Greinke.”"
Next
With the Dodgers up 2-0 in the series, play now moves to the desert for game three Monday night. That’s when right-hander Zack Greinke, who could not hold a 6-0 lead in the Wild Card Game, faces L.A. righty Yu Darvish.
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At the same time, manager Torey Lovullo hinted that if the series goes further, lefty Patrick Corbin could start game four in Chase Field. L.A. manager Dave Roberts did commit to lefty Alex Wood should a fourth game be needed.
In the wings, the Dodgers have Clayton Kershaw preparing for a potential fifth game in this series or the opening game in the National League Championship Series.