PHOENIX _ The pitch clanked off Jake Lamb's bat at 91 mph straight for Dustin May's head and the gangly Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander could not get out of the way in time.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts frantically leaped over the dugout rail the instant the line drive ricocheted off May's head and flew into left field. He had to wait to run out to the pitcher until the play concluded, after two Arizona Diamondbacks scored to tie the score.
May twisted in pain on his back, his blue cap on the ground, leaving his long red curls uncovered. He laid there for a couple of minutes as Roberts and trainer Yosuke Nakajima checked on him. Chase Field was silent. Lamb observed from first base, worry etched on his face, on one knee.
The pitcher stood up to cheers. He appeared to attempt to talk his way to stay in the game. He couldn't convince them and he walked off the mound, his second career relief appearance concluding with a scare long before the Dodgers came from behind for a 4-3 win in 11 innings on Joc Pederson's tie-busting home run.
May exited with runners on first and second with two outs. Adam Kolaek replaced him and surrendered a run-scoring single to give Arizona a 3-2 lead. The score stayed that way until the Diamondbacks (70-67) summoned left-hander Andrew Chafin to face the left-handed-hitting Cody Bellinger with one out in the ninth inning.
The matchup went the Dodgers' way. Bellinger clobbered a solo home run in the ninth inning to tie the score. It was home run No. 43 on the season for Bellinger, tying Mike Trout and Pete Alonso for the major league lead, and his 16th off a left-hander. He has belted the most home runs for a left-handed batter against left-handed pitching since Curtis Granderson compiled 16 in 2011.
Two innings later, after the Diamondbacks stranded two runners in the 10th inning, Pederson whacked the eighth pitch he saw from right-hander Taylor Clarke over the right-field wall to pull the Dodgers (89-50) ahead. The homer, Pederson's 28th, traveled 454 feet.
With the win, the Dodgers snapped Arizona's six-game winning streak and avoided their first four-game sweep since the St. Louis Cardinals swept them in April. They leave Arizona after a 3-4 trip with an 18-game lead in the National League West, 4 { games ahead of the Atlanta Braves for home-field advantage in the playoffs. The magic number to clinch their seventh straight division title is eight.
