The D-backs (47-47) pulled away late, securing a 9-3 victory over the Dodgers (61-34) Friday night at Dodger Stadium. After Arizona’s early advantage was erased by back-to-back home runs from Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages in the first, Tim Tawa’s fourth-inning home run put the D-backs ahead for good.
Sloppy play and three costly errors proved too much to overcome for the Dodgers offense. The offense only mustered three at-bats with runners in scoring position, going 0-for-3 with six runners stranded.
The D-backs opened up the game with back-to-back 0-2 singles against Kyle Hurt. Gabriel Moreno got the D-backs on the board first with a RBI base hit to right field. A throwing error by Tucker allowed a second run to come in to make it 2-0, Snakes.
Shohei Ohtani was scratched from his final start of the season prior to first pitch due to continued inflammation in his left knee. He remained in the lineup, and his bad knee didn’t prevent him from crushing a leadoff home run to cut Arizona’s lead down to one.
All-Star Andy Pages tied the game at two runs apiece with a huge 419-foot solo blast on a Rodriguez sinker.
Will Klein was the next arm out of the Dodgers bullpen, and he stranded Corbin Carroll at second base in the third to preserve the tie.
The D-backs took back the lead in the fourth, and never looked back, after Tim Tawa took a Brock Stewart four seamer for a ride.
Arizona continued to cash checks written by the Dodgers defense. A botched throw from Dalton Rushing in the fifth was the fifth Dodgers error in the last three games. A scoring groundout increased the D-backs lead to three runs.
A wild pitch by pitcher Edgardo Henriquez brought in a second run for the D-backs in the inning to make it 6-2.
More sloppy play helped the D-backs put the D-backs another two runs ahead in the sixth. They scored twice in each of the fourth through sixth innings. Freeman held on to a grounder hit back to him by Geraldo Perdomo and allowed an eighth run to come in.
Tawa singled in another run for the D-backs in the top of the eighth against Evan Phillips to make it 9-2.
The Dodgers scored a run in the bottom of the ninth on a Miguel Rojas RBI double, but the game was long over.
Friday particulars
Home runs: Shohei Ohtani (21), Andy Pages (17); Tim Tawa (2)
WP — Edguardo Rodriguez (8-3): 6 IP, 7 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts (87 pitches)
LP — Will Klein (3-4): 1 2/3 IP, 1 run, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts
Up next
Yoshinobu Yamamoto ( 9-5, 2.49 ERA, 0.88 WHIP) looks to finish up a dominant first half at (6:10 p.m., SportsNet LA). Brandon Pfaadt (2-1, 4.84 ERA, 1.34 WHIP) starts for the D-backs in the second game of the series Saturday night.
