PHOENIX _ The loss felt inconsequential, but it was not. The game itself felt like an afterthought, but it was not. The outcome felt familiar _ and it was.
The Los Angeles Dodgers had been drifting toward mediocrity long before they lost Corey Seager to season-ending surgery Monday afternoon. An 8-5 defeat to the Arizona Diamondbacks later that evening only furthered the team's skid.
The Dodgers (12-16) have now lost six of their last seven. They lost a series to the Marlins last week and fell three times in four games to San Francisco this weekend. Little looked different during the first game of a four-day set with the division-leading Diamondbacks.
Ross Stripling gave up four runs in four innings. Diamondbacks outfielder A.J. Pollock hit three homers. The Dodgers could not touch former teammate Zack Greinke until the sixth. Greinke struck out 10. The bullpen remained unreliable as Daniel Hudson and Tony Cingrani combined to give up two runs in the seventh. Those two extra runs proved pivotal as the Dodgers scored twice against Andrew Chafin in the eighth. The comeback attempt was futile and unsuccessful.
Stripling made his first start of the season. An emergency pried him from the bullpen. The Dodgers chose Stripling, who had thrown an inning in relief on Saturday, to replace Rich Hill as Hill dealt with an infection in his left middle finger. The Dodgers hoped Stripling could log three or four innings before turning the game over to the other relievers.
The Diamondbacks taxed Stripling in the second inning. He needed 27 pitches to finish the frame and permitted three runs in the process. The flurry started with a solo homer by Pollock. After Pollock pulled an 0-2 fastball just foul, Stripling threw another fastball in a similar location. Pollock kept this one fair.
Stripling gave up a double to the next batter, infielder Daniel Descalso. A one-out single by shortstop Nick Ahmed brought Descalso home. With two outs, Stripling faced Greinke. Stripling could not retire the opposing pitcher. Greinke slashed a 92.6-mph fastball through the left side of the infield for an RBI single.
Ahmed tagged Stripling again in the fourth. Stripling hung a 1-0 slider. Ahmed launched a solo shot over the elevated fence in center field.
Brock Stewart replaced Stripling after four innings. Stewart could not solve Pollock, either. Pollock hammered a slider for his second solo home run of the evening.
The Dodgers crept back into the game in the sixth and the seventh. Chris Taylor led off the sixth with a double, only the second hit allowed by Greinke. Yasmani Grandal hit an RBI single, followed by Joc Pederson's RBI triple. In the seventh, Max Muncy hit a solo shot off Arizona reliever Yoshihisa Hirano.
