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Darkness engulfed Dodger Stadium. Then flashing lights ushered in Timmy Trumpet’s “Narco” over the speakers. And the ballpark sat in uneasy anticipation.
Edwin Díaz’s walk-in music once had been a rallying cry for fans thrilled to see the Dodgers’ newest star take the mound. But with his shaky return from arthroscopic elbow surgery leading to three blown saves in four appearances, the crowd tempered its enthusiasm appropriately.
On Friday, however, as the Dodgers evened the series with a 3-1 win against the Milwaukee Brewers, history didn’t repeat itself.
“It was a tough one,” said Díaz, who turned in a scoreless ninth inning despite two walks and hitting a batter. “But at the end of the day, I made my pitches, got the three outs, got the W. So that’s the most important thing.”
Shohei Ohtani threw 34 pitches off a bullpen mound before Friday’s game against Milwaukee as the Dodgers’ star works toward returning to the rotation.
The four-game series against the Brewers set up a compelling battle for the top record in the National League. It’s a matchup between two teams with opposing identities.
The Dodgers are the large-market powerhouse loaded with star power seeking their third straight World Series trophy. The Brewers are the small-market overachievers, who somehow have retained their little-engine-that-could persona despite owning the best regular-season record in baseball last year.
With the victory, the Dodgers (74-49) trimmed the Brewers’ (75-48) lead to one game.
The more pressing problem for the Dodgers’ postseason outlook, however, is getting their closer back on track. Díaz, who likely won’t be available for the rest of the series after pitching consecutive days, at least was pleased with his progress.
“It wasn’t pretty,” said manager Dave Roberts, who has kept Díaz in the closer role despite his struggles. “I watched the inning too. But he found a way to make a pitch when he needed to.”
Díaz’s focus in his early work Friday was fixing his posture. He’d been leaning to the side and wanted to be more upright. He sees that as the root of his change in arm angle, which has dropped four degrees this season compared with last year, according to Statcast.
“One of my years in New York, I think I had that problem, and it was difficult for me to fix it,” he said. “But now I’m more mature, I know what I have to do.”
Of course, he didn’t stumble upon a magic fix Friday. By his second pitch, a ball well off the plate that put him behind 2-0, the crowd was feeling déjà vu and made it known with a smattering of boos. Five pitches later, he hit Andrew Vaughn, and the boos intensified.
