POWER SURGE
Dodgers sweep Diamondbacks with rally in first game, fast start in nightcap
LOS ANGELES » Challenged by injuries and a schedule that will demand they play 31 games in 30 days, the Dodgers’ pitching staff could use a little help from their friends.
Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Justin Turner stepped up, each clubbing home runs in a five-run sixth inning as the Dodgers turned around an early deficit to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 7-6, in the first game of a doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers routed the Diamondbacks 12-3 in the second game of the first doubleheader at Dodger Stadium since July 1999 and the first scheduled doubleheader here since
September 1987.
The sweep extended the Dodgers’ winning streak to four games.
“I don’t pay as much attention to it. But if you take a step back and look at it from your lens, I would say definitely. This is time for the offense to carry us through,” Betts agreed, when the pitching staff’s challenges were pointed out to him. “It is what it is. That’s why we have a really good team. We just have to do it.”
Tuesday’s early hole in the opener came by virtue of a three-run third inning against Dodgers starter Ryan Pepiot.
The rookie, making his second big-league start, walked the first two batters he faced before retiring the next eight in a row, four by strikeout.
DODGERS » PAGE5
Cody Bellinger scores on a hit by Gavin Lux during the second inning of the second game of Tuesday’s doubleheader at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers swept.
But Pepiot let a 1-and-2 count turn into a two-out walk of Josh Rojas in the third inning. The mistakes compounded when a passed ball moved Rojas into scoring position and Pavin Smith cashed him in with an RBI single on an 0-and-2 pitch.
That brought up Christian Walker who seems to have hit half of his career total of 60 home runs off Dodgers pitchers. It’s actually only 13 of those (still, the most he has hit against any opponent) after he crushed a 2-and-2 fastball Pepiot left over the heart of the plate for a two-run home run.
“Two-out walk, you never want to do that,” Pepiot said, reliving the worst part of his day. “Then I would love the 0-2 pitch to Pavin Smith back, for sure. I threw a good slider the pitch before then just left the one 0-2 right over the plate to him. Then the home run, I let a fastball leak over the middle of the plate and it wasn’t high enough.
“Those are two pitches I would love to have back. But it’s a learning experience.”
Pepiot came back to retire the side in order in the fourth before manager Dave Roberts went to the bullpen.
The Dodgers started to dig out of this early hole with a solo home run by Will Smith in the fourth inning. But that was half of the Dodgers’ hits against Diamondbacks starter Tyler Gilbert through the first five innings.
Hanser Alberto led off the sixth with a single — and Gilbert had to go through the Dodgers’ lineup a third time. It didn’t go well.
Alberto rode home on Betts’ game-tying home run — his third in the past four games. Two batters later, Trea Turner gave the Dodgers the lead with a solo home run. Justin Turner added another two-run homer after Max Muncy drew a two-out walk — and Diamondbacks manager Torey Luvollo sat on his hands.
All three home run hitters have started to come out of some early-season doldrums. Betts is 24 for 71 (.338) with four doubles and six home runs over his past 17 games.
Trea Turner’s homer was his first since April 16 and part of a 12-for-35 surge (.343) over his past nine games. Justin Turner is 9 for 29 (.310) over his past seven.
Betts made it a threehit game with a double in the seventh inning and scored on an RBI single by Freddie Freeman.
“I think we’re getting going a little bit more,” Trea Turner said. “We’ve talked about it quite a bit this year, but nobody’s really played up to their potential. You’ve got Mookie right now and maybe Freddie but Freddie thinks there’s more in there, too.
“So just having conversations with guys, we know there’s a lot more in there.”
The Dodgers needed every bit of the offense. The Diamondbacks pulled to within one with a solo home run by Alek Thomas and a little help from the Dodgers’ defense.
But Craig Kimbrel stranded the tying run on base when he struck out Jordan Luplow to end the game.
Fast start leads to Game 2 rout
After the Dodgers won the first game of Tuesday’s split-doubleheader, Betts was asked how he was going to spend the hours before the start of the second game. He planned to “go to sleep” and, frankly, he didn’t see why any teammate wouldn’t do the same.
There’s nothing like a good nap.
The Dodgers scored eight times in the first two innings and rode that early wake-up call to a 12-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks to complete their second doubleheader sweep in the past 11 days.
The double dip Tuesday during which the Dodgers scored 19 runs gives them a four-game winning streak — spun on a dime from last week’s four-game losing streak.
The Diamondbacks actually drew first blood in Tuesday’s second game, touching Dodgers starter Tyler Anderson for backto-back home runs by Jordan Luplow and Christian Walker with two outs in the first inning.
Anderson settled in after that, allowing only singles the rest of the way and only one more batter to reach second base as he went seven innings for the first time this season.
Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly never got a chance to settle in. The first three Dodgers to face him reached base. A leadoff walk by Betts was followed by a Freeman double (the first of three in the game for him) and a tworun single by Trea Turner.
Worse awaited Kelly in the second inning.
The Dodgers sent nine batters to the plate and scored six times, getting two on a double by Gavin Lux, one on another single by Trea Turner and three on a home run by Edwin Rios — batting cleanup for the first time in his bigleague career.
The six-run second is the ninth time this season the Dodgers have scored five or more runs in a single inning.
Freeman’s second double of the game drove in two during a three-run sixth inning. He completed his triple-double in the eighth, driving Betts home — the fifth time the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter scored a run Tuesday.
Utility infielder Hanser Alberto closed it out by pitching the ninth inning.