SYDNEY (AP) - Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson enjoyed his trip Down Under.
Except for the result of the two games.
The Diamondbacks lost 7-5 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday in the second game of their Major League Baseball season-opening series.
After losing 3-1 to the Dodgers on Saturday, the Diamondbacks trailed 7-0 through seven innings in the finale at Sydney Cricket Ground before making it interesting, scoring a run in the eighth and four in the ninth.
“It was a great trip here, other than we lost twice,” Gibson said. “There were a lot of Diamondbacks fans here and it’s just too bad we couldn’t have won a game for them.
Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig made a nice running catch of a liner off the bat of second baseman Aaron Hill with the bases loaded to end the Arizona seventh.
Mark Trumbo, who also had an RBI single in the eighth, hit a two-run homer off Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen with two outs in the ninth to get Arizona within two.
Those were Trumbo’s first hits for Arizona after being acquired by the Diamondbacks as part of a three-team trade with the Angels and White Sox in December.
Jansen struck out Gerardo Parra to end a game that featured 14 pitchers and lasted a minute more than 4 hours.
Before Trumbo’s home run, Martin Prado’s had a two-run single in the ninth.
The loss was the first for Arizona starter Trevor Cahill (0-1) against the Dodgers. He came into the game with a 6-0 record and 2.01 ERA in 10 career starts against Los Angeles, but he allowed five runs and eight hits in four innings. He walked four and had a strikeout.
The Diamondbacks also made three errors, two of them by catcher Miguel Montero.
Gibson wasn’t too pleased with his team’s struggles on Sunday.
“He didn’t command the zone very good at all,” Gibson said of Cahill. “Not many strikes … it was kind of hard to execute a game plan and get the ball where we need to get it.
“We also walked a gazillion today, hit two guys. You can’t give a good team like the Dodgers that kind of opportunity.”
And Los Angeles took advantage of its opportunities.
“They were pretty timely with their hitting,” Gibson added. “They did a pretty good job in this series of getting them in and until late in the game we did not match that.
“We made some bobbles in the field which is uncharacteristic and again it’s a hard formula to try and beat these guys.”
In the bottom of the first, Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt’s sharp single under the glove of Adrian Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to 21 games, the longest active streak in the majors going back to Sept. 10 last season. He has five homers and 18 RBIs in that span and had two hits Sunday.
The Diamondbacks threatened in the bottom of the fourth thanks to some poor Dodgers fielding. Goldschmidt was safe on an error when Gordon dropped his easy line drive.
With one out, Montero hit a double-play ball to shortstop Harley Ramirez, who was unsure whether to throw to Gordon to start the double play, or step on the bag before throwing to first.
By the time he decided to try to get to the bag, Goldschmidt was safe at second and Montero beat Ramirez’s throw to first.
But Hyun-Jin Ryu struck out Parra looking to end the inning.
Beginning his second season in the majors, Ryu (1-0) held the Diamondbacks to two hits in five shutout innings. He struck out five and walked one. The left-hander had a strong rookie season last year, going 14-8 with a 3.00 ERA in 30 starts after seven seasons in South Korea.
Puig had three hits and two RBIs. Dee Gordon and Juan Uribe also had three hits for the Dodgers.
“The first one I really enjoyed actually, this one not quite as much,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said of Arizona’s late-inning rally.
“It was good to get it, and at the end of the day it’s a win. But it’s a kind of frustrating one. We walked seven guys the last four innings and we really gave them the chance to get back in the game.”
NOTES: Dodgers LF Carl Crawford, who is on paternity leave and didn’t travel to Australia, is a dad. The team said his fiancee, Evelyn Lozado, gave birth to their first child, Carl Leo Crawford, in Arizona early Saturday morning. … Before the game, Diamondbacks INF Didi Gregorius visited with a group of fans from his former Canberra Calvary team in the Australian Baseball League, where he played in 2010. … The opening ceremonies that were scratched Saturday because of thunderstorms and light rain were held before Sunday’s game, including the introduction of nearly 20 Australians who have played in the majors. Ex-Yankee Graeme Lloyd threw the ceremonial first pitch to Dave Nilsson, one in the dirt that got past the former All-Star catcher.
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