"I thought he did a heck of a job" - Dave Roberts lauds Dodgers rookie Landon Knack despite team's narrow loss against Diamondbacks
The Los Angeles Dodgers fell to a narrow loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, despite Landon Knack's best efforts from the mound.
Dodgers rookie Landon Knack registered his first win for the team last month but wasn't able to repeat the heroics on Tuesday. The second game of the series faced almost a two-hour delay due to a colony of bees behind the home plate.
Diamondbacks broke the deadlock in the game after Christian Walker's solo home run in the fourth against Knack. The 26-year-old went five innings, conceding four hits and managing two strikeouts. However, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts felt that the right-handed pitcher gave his best despite his team's loss.
"I thought Landon did a heck of a job... I give him a lot of credit for giving us what he had," Dave Roberts said on Knack's outing after the game.
The game stretched into extra innings with both teams level at 2-2. Will Smith drove Gavin Lux home in the top of the tenth to seemingly tilt the game in favor of the Dodgers; however, Christian Walker had other ideas as the Diamondbacks first baseman sealed a walk-off win for his team with a two-run homer in the tenth.
Landon Knack trying to get comfortable with Dodgers after big league start
The Dodgers rookie, who faced a bizarre delay ahead of Tuesday's game against the Diamondbacks revealed he is trying to keep himself as relaxed as possible to get accustomed to things since making his MLB debut last month.
"Just starting to get more comfortable being here," Knack said. Understanding what I need to get and understanding this is what we do. It's still a baseball game and just basically trying to relax and just get more comfortable with that."
Talking about the bee intervention that delayed his start on Tuesday, Landon Knack stated that he came to know about the situation minutes before the game was going to commence but it didn't affect his game plan.
"I was completely ready to go. I didn't know it was getting delayed until about two minutes before the first pitch," Knack said after the game.
The two teams will face off for the final game of the series at Chase Field on Wednesday with the Dodgers hoping to bounce back from the disappointing loss in the rubber game.