PHOENIX — The Dodgers weathered a comeback attempt from the Diamondbacks to claim a 6-5 win Tuesday, evening the series.
Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman teamed up to give the Dodgers an early lead against Diamondbacks starter Michael Soroka, one they’d maintain despite a late surge by Arizona.
After Ohtani hit a double to lead off the game, Freeman drove a two-run homer off his former Braves teammate and into the right-field stands.
The next inning, Dalton Rushing and Alex Freeland’s back-to-back singles set up Ohtani to plate runs when he lined a triple into the right-field corner.
Dodgers starter Eric Lauer, making his second start since the trade that brought him over from the Blue Jays, tossed two scoreless frames to maintain that lead.
In the third, however, Diamondbacks star Corbin Carroll sent a cutter the other way, and it bounced off the top of the left-field wall, into the home bullpen for Arizona’s first run of the night.
Lauer relied on soft contact to throw a scoreless fourth inning, but he ran into some trouble in the fifth, with back-to-back singles, a sacrifice fly, a disengagement violation and apparent PitchCom issues.
In a two-run game, Roberts pulled the plug before Lauer could face right-handed No. 3 hitter Gabriel Moreno for a third time, even though Lauer had set him down twice. Lauer’s pitch count was only up to 70, after giving up five hits in 4 ⅔ innings.
With a runner on second and two out, a hit would cut the Dodgers’ lead to one run, and then there was always the risk of a tying homer.
Roberts turned to right-handed reliever Blake Treinen, who walked Moreno but got out of the inning by inducing Nolan Arenado to fly out to left field. Rookie Ryan Ward, in his fourth major-league game, made the sliding catch.
The Dodgers (39-22) added insurance in the seventh, manufacturing the first with a double from Rushing, sacrifice bunt from Freeland, an intentional walk to Ohtani, and sacrifice fly from Andy Pages. Back-to-back singles from Freeman and Betts pushed across a second run.
The Diamondbacks countered.
Dodgers reliever Kyle Hurt’s command was shaky from the start. And his two walks with less than two out in the seventh came back to haunt him, as both baserunners scored Arenado’s double off the wall. Ward bobbled the ball as he picked it up for the relay home and a close play at the plate for the second run.
Hurt issued a third walk, a season high, before fellow right-hander Will Klein replaced him.
Pinch-hitting Geraldo Perdomo shot a line-drive single off Klein into shallow left field, loading the bases. Klein walked in a run, which trimmed the Dodgers’ lead to 6-5.
A broken-bat grounder to the right side of the infield, hunted down by Freeman ranging to his backhand side from first base, ended the inning.
Infield defense again got Klein out of a jam in the eighth, turning a double play after back-to-back singles to maintain the lead.
Lefty Tanner Scott took over in the ninth. Bouncing back from his first blown save of the season over the weekend, he retired three of the four batters he faced, stranding a runner at second to finish the game.
The post Fast start helps Dodgers hold off the Diamondbacks appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
