D-Backs avoid sweep

Dodgers starter Hill exits early with blister

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers were hoping Rich Hill would put his blister problems behind him Sunday. Those hopes burst in the third inning, though, and Taijuan Walker and the Diamondbacks were ready to take advantage.

Walker pitched five solid innings and Arizona beat Los Angeles 3-1 after Hill re-aggravated a blister on his left middle finger.

Hill (1-1) was activated from the 10-day disabled list before this start after missing time with the blister, but he made it only three innings and 54 pitches before leaving. The lefthander allowed two runs, five hits and two walks and struck out two.

“We don’t know right now what the situation is, (disabled list) or not,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think we’ll make that decision (Monday). He’s frustrated. I think we all share that sentiment.”

Chris Iannetta hit a solo homer off Hill in the third inning, and five batters later, Hill walked Jake Lamb with the bases loaded for a 2-0 Arizona lead. Paul Goldschmidt singled in another run in the seventh inning.

Hill was upset when he arrived in the dugout after the third and went straight to the clubhouse. He returned to the mound to start the fourth inning, but Roberts and a trainer met him there for a long conversation before he was pulled.

Last year, Hill was traded from Oakland to the Dodgers in August when he already had a blister issue on the same finger. He signed a $48 million, threeyear free agent deal in the offseason with Los Angeles, and there were no issues in spring training this season. Now, though, the blister has reared its ugly head again.

Hill said he noticed the blister had opened while swinging on-deck in the second inning. He pitched the third with the popped blister, but said it isn’t as bad as last year when it “completely broke open and was bleeding, raw skin.”