Dodgers find their offense, then hold on to beat Diamondbacks
· Yahoo Sports
The Dodgers peppered their offense throughout Tuesday’s game, then rode the high wire as the bullpen recorded the final 13 outs of a 6-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix.
After a night with minimal scoring chances, the Dodgers offense wasted no time on Tuesday, with Shohei Ohtani in the middle of everything in what has historically been the best month of his career.
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He doubled down the right field line and scored on Freddie Freeman’s home run in the first inning. Then Ohtani drilled a ball into the right field corner in the second for a two-run triple. He was intentionally walked with a runner on third base in the seventh, and scored then too, part of the Dodgers’ third two-run inning of the evening.
Freeman was hitless on Monday, snapping a 14-game on-base streak, but had three hits on Tuesday. He’s been on an extra-base-hit tear, with five home runs and four doubles in his last 13 games, raising his seasonal OPS 98 points during that time.
Eric Lauer didn’t give up much in the first four innings, mostly just a solo home run by the red-hot Corbin Carroll off the top of the left field wall and into the bullpen with two outs in the third. That was to be expected, with Lauer now at 13 home runs allowed, tied for eighth-most in the majors. Carroll entered Tuesday with a 219 wRC+ against lefties this season, which Ryan Blake wrote about at FanGraphs. Arizona’s star southpaw has punished southpaws to the tune of .417/.527/.708.
Two singles to open the fifth inning set the Diamondbacks up nicely, with Ketel Marte delivering a sacrifice fly to plate a second run. Lauer was allowed to face Carroll a third time, and landed a fastball and curve at the top of the zone to strike out Carroll with a runner on second base. That ended Lauer’s night at 4 2/3 innings.
Tuesday was the first time a Dodgers starting pitcher didn’t complete five innings in 12 games, and the bullpen had a bumpy road to cross the finish line.
Blake Treinen walked a first batter, then gave up a low liner to left by Nolan Arenado that had designs on bring another run home, but Ryan Ward made a sliding catch to escape further damage in the fifth, keeping the lead at two runs.
Two Diamondbacks reached off Edgardo Henriquez in the sixth, but he kept them there. Kyle Hurt walked three batters batters and couldn’t finish the seventh, and Arenado brought two of them home with a double off the left field wall. This time a bobble from Ward helped the second run score, as Mookie Betts’ relay was just a hair late to get a sliding Gabriel Moreno at the plate.
Hurt had three unintentional walks in 66 batters faced this season through Monday, but walked three of his six batters faced on Tuesday.
Will Klein was also wild, falling behind Geraldo Perdomo before a pinch-hit single loaded the bases. Then Klein walked in a run. It took a wide-ranging grab by Freeman and an acrobatic stab at second base by Mookie Betts for the Dodgers to escape the seventh inning with a lead, this time down to a single run.
With a chance to reset, Klein allowed two singles in the eighth inning but got a double play to escape with the lead intact. He leads the Dodgers with eight appearances pitching in multiple innings this season, three more than the next-most on the team (Jack Dreyer).
Tanner Scott allowed a one-out single in the ninth. Geraldo Perdomo, who finished fourth in National League MVP voting last year but has struggled to the tune of a .679 OPS this year, laid down a bunt on a 3-1 pitch, which got the potential tying run in scoring position, but at the cost of a precious second out.
That left lefty Pavin Smith against the lefty Scott, and the resulting harmless groundout allowed the Dodgers to claim this one.
Tuesday particularsHome runs: Freddie Freeman (9); Corbin Carroll (8)
WP — Blake Treinen (2-1): 1/3 IP, 1 walk
LP — Michael Soroka (7-3): 6 IP, 6 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts
Sv — Tanner Scott (6): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 strikeout
Up nextShohei Ohtani makes his 10th pitching start of the season on Wednesday night (6:40 p.m., SportsNet LA), with opening day starter Zac Gallen on the mound for Arizona.