LOS ANGELES _ Two of the premium closers pitched in the ninth inning on Sunday at Dodger Stadium. Neither got the save.
The Los Angeles Dodgers got the win. They are in first place in the National League West, all alone.
They scored twice in the ninth inning Sunday, stunning the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-2. Matt Kemp, who hit the game-winning home run off Archie Bradley on Saturday, hit the game-winning double off Bradley on Sunday.
"I was a little bit surprised" at the matchup, Kemp said.
Kemp staggered back to the dugout, his jersey unbuttoned and untucked, after the Dodgers mobbed him in left field. Yasiel Puig delivered the Gatorade bath.
The Dodgers trailed, 2-1, when Arizona closer Brad Boxberger entered in the ninth inning. Boxberger walked the first two batters, and Enrique Hernandez sacrificed.
Bradley replaced Boxberger. Kemp doubled home the winning runs and turned Dodger Stadium into a pit of delirium.
If you're the home team and you're tied in the ninth inning, your team cannot have a save situation. If you're going to use your closer, you start the ninth inning with him.
The Dodgers did not.
With the score tied in the ninth inning, rookie Caleb Ferguson took the mound, for a second inning of relief.
Daniel Descalso hit a home run. And then, and only then, did Kenley Jansen appear.
Jansen ended up with the win.
For the first few innings, the day appeared to be destined to be remembered for the brilliance of rookie Walker Buehler.
Buehler never had faced the Diamondbacks, and he made quite the first impression. He struck out nine, all in the first five innings. He retired 12 consecutive batters at one point.
He faced 24 batters and gave up two hits: both singles, and both hit by perennial MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt.
Buehler approached 100 pitches as he approached the seventh inning, but the Dodgers bullpen did not stir until after Goldschmidt led off the inning with his second single. Buehler got two more batters, a pop fly and a walk, and after 103 pitches he was done.
The Dodgers summoned Ryan Madson, whom they acquired this week as another piece for their late-inning relief puzzle. Madson made his Dodgers debut by walking the first batter he faced on four pitches, loading the bases.
Alex Avila lofted a fly ball to center field, where Cody Bellinger made the catch and fired a laser to home plate. Yasmani Grandal applied the tag for what would have been the inning-ending and shutout-preserving double play, and Bellinger was so giddy he leaped in the air and hip-checked left fielder Joc Pederson to the ground.
However, the call was overturned after a replay review. The shutout was gone, the lead was gone, and Buehler would get no decision.
Buehler boasts a 2.92 earned-run average, ranking in the top 10 among National League pitchers who have thrown at least 100 innings.
Clay Buchholz once was a wonder child too, so wondrous that he threw a no-hitter in his second major league start. But that was 11 years ago and, after two World Series championships and two All-Star appearances with the Boston Red Sox, Buchholz had fallen so far that the Kansas City Royals had released him from a minor league contract this spring.
The Diamondbacks extended him a shot, the third team in two years to do so. He reported to Dodger Stadium on Sunday with a 2.07 ERA, including five consecutive quality starts and 15 consecutive scoreless innings.
He extended that streak to 19, before Max Muncy led off the fifth inning with a home run. The ball landed deep in the Arizona bullpen, for Muncy his 31st home run this season.
