Craig Kimbrel let it go, then watched it leave.
With two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning Wednesday night, on the verge of his 23rd save and 10th consecutive scoreless appearance, the Dodgers closer tried to end the game with an elevated fastball.
Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Sergio Alcántara ended it instead, hammering a walk-off three-run homer to give the Diamondbacks a 5-3 win.
In what started out as a sleepy contest that didn’t feature any of their top three hitters, nor one of their normal starting pitchers, the Dodgers were still leading going into the bottom of the 10th inning.
They had sent the game to extra innings after Diamondbacks designated hitter Jake McCarthy was thrown out trying to steal home with two outs in the ninth.
They went in front when their former reliever, Reyes Moronta, threw a run-scoring wild pitch in the top of the 10th.
Then came Kimbrel, summoned for the save amid a recent month-long turnaround in which he hadn’t given up a hit since August 17, had retired all 15 batters he’d faced this month, lowered his ERA by almost a run, and garnered some long-absent goodwill from the fan base after switching his entrance song to “Let It Go” from the Disney movie “Frozen.”
On Wednesday, however, there was no song — and no save from Kimbrel either.
He walked his first batter, bounced back with a couple quick outs, but then fell behind Alcántara with a high fastball and low curve.
In a 2-and-1 count, Kimbrel tried to come back with an elevated four-seamer. He missed his spot though, leaving it in what manager Dave Roberts called Alcántara’s “nitro zone” over the inner half of the plate.
“I think it just comes down to that last hitter,” Roberts said. “It’s a guy he knows he should get out.”
Instead, Alcántara sent it into the right-field seats, winning the game to help the Diamondbacks avoid a series sweep and reigniting questions about Kimbrel’s role on a playoff-bound Dodgers team.
A few weeks ago, when Kimbrel was still scuffling, Roberts said he didn’t know who would be closing games for the Dodgers in the playoffs.
On Wednesday night, he said that remained unchanged.
“If Craig continues to throw the baseball like has [recently, before tonight], I…