Edwin Díaz survives another ninth-inning adventure as Dodgers beat Brewers

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers wanted a clean ending Friday night.

Edwin Díaz had other plans.

With a two-run lead and another save opportunity in front of him, Díaz turned the ninth inning at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium into another late-night test of the Dodgers’ collective blood pressure. He hit a batter, walked two, struggled to locate his fastball and surrendered a 104-mph ground ball.

And somehow, he escaped.

Díaz got the final out on a grounder to Mookie Betts, preserving a 3-1 Dodgers victory over the Milwaukee Brewers and securing his seventh save since joining the Dodgers. It was hardly the type of save Díaz or the Dodgers would draw up, but after Thursday’s disappointing loss to Milwaukee, the result was all that mattered.

“It wasn’t pretty,” Dave Roberts said. “I watched the inning too, but he made a pitch when he needed to.”

That pitch came with two outs and the bases loaded.

Díaz had thrown 26 pitches in the inning, only 11 of them strikes. His fastball command deserted him, and Milwaukee kept the inning alive long enough to put the tying run on base. But Díaz stayed in the game, battled through the final hitter and finally induced the grounder that ended the threat.

“Even with that last hitter, I wanted to see him try to fight through it and get through it, so I was happy that he finished what he started,” Roberts said.

For Díaz, the rough inning was another reminder that something has not quite been right mechanically. He said he has identified the issue as his posture and arm angle, with his arm angle getting lower than he wants.

“Yeah, they told me that my arm angle was a little bit low, so I was trying to work on that a little bit today,” Díaz said. “My posture is the main focus in that.”

Still, Díaz believes the work is moving him in the right direction.

“I’m going in a good direction right now,” he said.

The Dodgers will give him a little more time to work on it. Roberts said Díaz will not be available for the next couple of games, allowing him to use the break to make adjustments with the pitching and strength staffs.

The Dodgers needed Díaz because they had built another narrow lead thanks to a combination of timely offense and another strong outing from Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Yamamoto was electric from the start, limiting the Brewers to one run over six innings while striking out nine. He allowed four hits and two walks, throwing 97 pitches, 69 for strikes.

The Dodgers took an early lead in the first when Betts lined an RBI single to left, scoring Andy Pages.

Milwaukee answered, but Pages put the Dodgers back in front in the fifth.

Pages crushed his 20th home run of the season, a solo shot that gave the Dodgers a 2-1 advantage. It was another milestone in what has become an increasingly productive season for the young outfielder.

Interestingly, Pages has been perfectly balanced in the power department at home and on the road: 10 homers at Dodger Stadium and 10 on the road.  

Then Tommy Edman added some breathing room in the sixth with his fourth home run of the season, pushing the Dodgers’ lead to 3-1.

That was enough for the pitching staff, barely.

Evan Phillips worked a perfect seventh on 18 pitches before Tanner Scott followed with a scoreless eighth. Then came Díaz, and another ninth inning that seemed determined to make a routine save anything but routine.

The Dodgers survived it.

And in doing so, they moved to 74-49, maintaining an eight-game lead over the Padres in the National League West.

The Brewers remain one game ahead of the Dodgers for the best record in baseball, with two games still remaining between the National League’s top two teams this weekend.

The Dodgers would certainly prefer those games to end a little more quietly. But on Friday, after the way Thursday night ended, they were happy to take the win, even if Díaz made them sweat for every last out.