Pujols’ home run helps Dodgers sweep Arizona
PHOENIX » There was such a significant percentage of Dodgers fans at Chase Field this weekend — roaring at Dodgers home runs, booing a member of the home team (Josh Reddick) for past transgressions committed in another league — that they must have felt like road games for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
And that is not a good feeling for them.
The Dodgers came to town for the weekend, filled the stands with their fans and collected their door prize — a three-game sweep of the Diamondbacks, wrapped up with a messy finish to a 9-8 win on Sunday afternoon.
A soft spot in the schedule fed the Dodgers three last-place teams (the Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers and Diamondbacks) over the past two weeks and they fattened up, winning 10 of 12 games during the two-week stretch, eight of nine against the trio of cellar-dwellers.
“I think we just took care of business,” said Dodgers outfielder AJ Pollock, who had three hits and three RBIs on Sunday. “You don’t want to get ahead of yourself. I know that team over there has lost some games. But you don’t want to be thinking too far down the road.
“So I think we did a good job of coming in, taking it day to day, and we were able to get three wins. It got a little tough at the end there. But a win’s a win.”
The Dodgers outscored the Diamondbacks 21-11 in the three games. Six of the Diamondbacks’ runs came in the eighth inning Sunday as Edwin Uceta (fresh off the plane from Triple-A) and Victor Gonzalez struggled to close out the weekend.
But the Dodgers held the Diamondbacks scoreless in 20 of the first 21 innings and never trailed in
The Dodgers’ Albert Pujols (55) celebrates with Justin Turner after hitting a three-run homer against Arizona.
THE SCORE
DODGERS 9, D-BACKS 8
Up next: Dodgers at Padres, today, 7:10p.m., SNLA
the series.
On the bright side for the freefalling Diamondbacks, they were able to sell nearly 87,000 tickets this weekend to watch the worst team in baseball.
The Diamondbacks have lost a franchise-record 17 consecutive games and a remarkable 40 of their last 45 — including 23 in a row on the road.
“Yeah. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone,” said Pollock, sympathetic to the organization where he spent the first seven seasons of his big league career. “They’re struggling. Everyone I’m talking to, I ask how they’re doing and they’re saying they’re grinding. It’s a tough game. It’s really tough. And it’s one of those where you play every day and it just keeps coming after you and after you. You lose a little bit of your edge and there’s some good teams out there that will take advantage of it.
“I was part of a couple teams that had lots of losses. I think 2016 we lost 100 games. Not fun. Not fun.”
It was actually only 93. But it probably felt like more.
There were times Sunday when it looked as if
the Dodgers could score 20 runs if they wanted — and there was a time, in that eighth inning, when it looked as if they might need to.
They settled for nine, getting a three-run home run from Albert Pujols, multi-hit games from Chris Taylor, Justin Turner and Austin Barnes as well as Pollock and Pujols and even a double from starting pitcher Tony Gonsolin.
For Pujols, the home run was the 673rd of his career, 11th of the season, sixth with the Dodgers — and continuing validation of his assertion, upon signing with the Dodgers, that he still has “some gasoline in the tank.”
The Dodgers signed Pujols to hit left-handed pitching — something that has been problematic for their lineup — and he has done just that. Through Sunday, he is 16 for 43 (.372) with five home runs and 13 RBIs off lefties since the Angels released him.
“It’s great. You look at his swing — his swing is still right there. He crushed that ball today. It jumped off his bat,” said Pollock, in the latest endorsement of Pujols’ addition. “He’s just playing a really good role on this team — fun to be around, enjoying the game and he’s come up big for us too.”