Edwin Díaz meltdown at old Dodgers house of horrors adds another awful wrinkle to losing streak

The Dodgers still have the best run differential in baseball (tied with the Brewers) and are still leading the NL West by a massive margin, 7.5 games up from the second-place Diamondbacks. But Friday night's loss to Arizona held a particular kind of ugly sting.

An Andy Pages homer in the eighth put the Dodgers ahead in a close contest, and Tanner Scott shut down the D-backs' side despite a bases-loaded jam. Edwin Díaz, in his fourth appearance since coming off of the IL, walked the leadoff hitter but struck out his next batter.

Then rookie Ryan Waldschmidt took him deep on a 2-2 hanging slider to walk it off for Arizona and put the Dodgers' seventh straight loss in the books. The Dodgers have only lost seven straight games twice in their last nine seasons.

Díaz's ERA on the year is up to 11.00, and he's given up a run in three of his four appearances since returning from surgery to remove loose bodies. He was still credited with a save on July 29 despite giving up two hits and a run, but it certainly didn't lend reassurance to Dodgers fans that he would make up for lost time.

And this loss just had to come at Chase Field, where the Dodgers were swept by their division rivals in the 2023 NLDS to get an early ticket home despite being the No. 2 seed.

Edwin Díaz's performance since coming off Dodgers' IL should have LA asking tough questions

The Dodgers got their man at the trade deadline by dealing away three prospects for Tarik Skubal, but otherwise they did what Andrew Friedman usually prefers to do: they added around the margins. They bought a brand new battery (kind of) in Ben Rortvedt and Hunter Feduccia with Dalton Rushing down and facing Tommy John, injured starter Kris Bubic, and Rockies fireballer Seth Halvorsen, who was optioned to Triple-A after the trade.

The big question that's followed was inevitable: did the Dodgers do enough at the trade deadline?

In all likelihood, Friedman isn't panicking. LA has late-inning options they can turn to in Díaz's stead. But it's not just late innings that the Dodgers should be worried about. The offense has been outscored 25-46 during this seven-game stretch. They're missing Will Smith and Dalton Rushing. Mookie Betts continues to underperform, and Max Muncy has been missing all of his power as of late.

Everything came to a head on Friday night. The Dodgers' lead is slowly but surely slipping, and performances like Díaz's aren't going to stop the skid.

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