PHOENIX (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers picked a bad time to have their first losing streak in two weeks.Plagued by another night of missed opportunities and Ross Stripling’s shaky start http://www.nationalsfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-wieters-jersey , the Dodgers lost 7-2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night to fall to second place in the NL West.The Dodgers (88-71) rallied to tie Arizona in the ninth inning Tuesday night, only to have Eduardo Escobar hit a walkoff homer in the bottom half. That loss, combined with Colorado’s win over Philadelphia, dropped the Dodgers’ division lead to a half-game.With Rockies (88-70) rolling over the Phillies 14-0, the Dodgers couldn’t bounce back from Arizona’s three-run second inning against Stripling (8-6) or take advantage of an early opportunity against Zack Greinke. Los Angeles has lost consecutive games for the first time since Sept. 10-11 and is now a half-game back in the NL West.“As far as getting to the postseason, it takes us, we control our own fate,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We’ve got to win baseball games. For us, there’s a little back against the wall.”The Diamondbacks displayed plenty of power in their final home game. A.J. Pollock hit a three-run home run, David Peralta had his 30th of the season and Socrates Brito hit his first big-league homer in two years.Greinke (15-11) overcame a shaky start to allow two runs and strike out six in six innings.The Diamondbacks struggled early in September to fall out of the playoff race, but made an impact by winning the final two games against the Dodgers.“I understand what happened in the early part of the month, but this is really all we had left,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “We beat the Dodgers two out of three and hurt their chances of advancing.”The Dodgers had a big chance against Greinke in the third inning, loading the bases with one out. They came away with nothing after Yasiel Puig lined out to shortstop and Yasmani Grandal grounded out to second.“It was just the one hit or the at-bat that eluded us Joe Blanton Jersey ,” Roberts said. “That Puig at-bat, it goes a different way, it’s a completely different game. But that’s baseball.”Stripling allowed two runs in 3 1/3 innings in his return to the rotation against San Diego his last time out. He didn’t last that long against the Diamondbacks.Arizona hit for the reverse cycle against him in a three-run second inning, starting with Brito’s leadoff homer. Stripling was pulled after walking Peralta to load the bases with two outs, but Pedro Baez ended the threat by striking out Paul Goldschmidt.Stripling allowed seven of the 12 batters he faced to reach base, allowing three runs on five hits.“It’s kind of tough when you’re trying to help a team win, help a team that’s battling for playoff implications and you can’t get through two innings,” Stripling said. “It stinks.”The Dodgers had some hard-hit balls of Greinke early, taking a 2-0 lead on run-scoring hits by Cody Bellinger and Stripling. The right-hander escaped the jam in the third inning and allowed two more hits the rest of the way.“They were hitting the ball pretty hard the first couple of innings and just had a lot of good defensive plays and scored some runs,” Greinke said. “Then I started pitching better after that.”RARE SWITCH-OFFThe eighth inning featured a rare switch-pitcher facing a switch-hitter.Dodgers reliever Pat Venditte got the first two outs of the inning pitching right-handed, then switched to lefty with Ildemaro Vargas on deck. Vargas, who was swinging left-handed, saw Venditte switch and he asked the bat boy to bring another helmet so he could bat right-handed.Venditte won the switch-off, getting Vargas to fly out to right.TRAINER’S ROOMDodgers 3B Justin Turner got hit left thumb checked out after the game for swelling from a hard-hit ball by Goldschmidt in the fifth inning. He remained in the game and Roberts he was sore Howie Kendrick Jersey , but didn’t think there was anything wrong structurally.UP NEXTDodgers: Los Angeles could use another strong outing from LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu Friday against San Francisco. He tossed six scoreless innings to beat San Diego his last start.Diamondbacks: LHP Patrick Corbin is 4-2 with a 2.96 ERA in 15 road starts heading into Friday’s game against San Diego. Shohei Ohtani will try to maintain his torrid pace as of late when the Los Angeles Angels play the Chicago White Sox in the second installment of a three-game series Saturday evening at Guaranteed Rate Field.Ohtani, a two-way star who slammed his 19th homer in Friday’s 5-3 win, has hit three long balls since receiving word that he needs Tommy John surgery and is unlikely to pitch in 2019. He is riding a five-game hit streak The Japanese star plans to continue hitting while deciding his next move, and his elbow injury does not impact his swing.Article continues below ...“Nothing is set right now,” Ohtani told reporters on Friday through his interpreter. “I have a few options out there. I am trying to look into every single option. I will make a decision sometime toward the end of the season.“I feel like I’m progressing as a hitter right now, so I’m trying to gain as many experiences as I can while the games count.”Los Angeles (69-72) still has a chance to finish above .500 for the first time in three seasons. The Angels have won six of their last 10 games and are 5-3 on their current road trip, which has included stops in Houston, Texas and Chicago.When the Angels hit two home runs or more in a game, as they did in the series opener, they boast an impressive record of 42-13.Chicago (56-85) is playing .500 baseball since the All-Star break and has high hopes for continued improvement next year. However, the team learned Friday that it likely will be without prized pitcher Michael Kopech for the rest of this season and all of next season because of a torn elbow ligament that requires Tommy John surgery.White Sox right-hander James Shields (6-15, 4.39 ERA) will start on Saturday and try to refocus his teammates after the tough news. Shields is coming off a strong outing in which he pitched six scoreless innings against the Boston Red Sox to earn a victory on Sunday.In 16 career starts against the Angels, Shields is 7-5 with a 3.48 ERA. He has 22 walks and 100 strikeouts in 108 2/3 innings. In his only start against the Angels this season, Shields gave up six runs Sean Doolittle Jersey , including three homers, in four innings and took a loss.Los Angeles will counter with right-hander Matt Shoemaker (1-0, 2.53 ERA), who will make his third start of the season. Shoemaker missed most of the season with a right forearm strain but tossed five scoreless innings his last time out Monday against the Texas Rangers.In five career starts against the White Sox, Shoemaker is 2-2 with a 4.18 ERA. He has been prone to big mistakes, allowing seven home runs in 32 1/3 innings.White Sox outfielder Avisail Garcia enters the game hot after homering and reaching base four times in the series opener. However, Garcia is battling a balky knee and might not play in back-to-back contests.“We’re going to spell him, do everything we have to do to keep him off his legs as much as possible,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “But he wants to play. We’re going to have to be very mindful of how he’s doing and give him an opportunity to kind of recover a little bit. I’ll talk to him tonight, talk to him (before Saturday’s game) to see how he’s feeling.”