By Gus "Walk-Off" Fields
The pitch came in, and Ryan Waldschmidt did what rookies dream about and veterans dread giving up. With Arizona trailing late Friday night, the rookie turned on a pitch from Dodgers closer Edwin Diaz and drove it out for a two-run, walk-off home run, lifting the Diamondbacks to a 4-3 win.
For the Dodgers, it was the kind of ending that stings twice. Los Angeles had the lead. Los Angeles had its closer on the mound. And Los Angeles still walked off the field a loser, dropping its seventh straight game — a season-high skid for a club that entered the year with championship expectations.
There's no dressing up a number like that. Seven losses in a row is seven losses in a row, and it came in the cruelest possible fashion: a walk-off shot off the man usually entrusted to close the door. Diaz has been that guy for the Dodgers most of the year, and Friday he was instead the answer to an Arizona rookie's biggest moment yet.
Baseball has a way of humbling even the best-built rosters, and right now the Dodgers are getting that lesson delivered nightly. What comes next — whether this is a summer speed bump or something more troubling — will show up in the standings soon enough. For now, Waldschmidt gets his moment, and Los Angeles gets a long flight home to think about it.
— Compiled from reporting by ESPN.
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