And thanks to a stellar effort by the Dodgers bullpen, the resurgence of Yasiel Puig and a shaky Arizona defense, Los Angeles capped the night with an 8-4 win over the Diamondbacks.
Kenley Jansen got the final four outs for his third save of the season, and first appearance longer than one inning in 2017.
The home run by Austin Barnes in the second inning was his first major league home run. He went six innings and gave up nine hits and issued three walks. Kershaw gave up one run on four hits over 8⅓ innings. They scored two runs on the first five pitches they saw Saturday, and had a running in scoring position in each of the first six innings.
After Ahmed's homer, the Dodgers tied it back up in the bottom of the second with an unearned run. But Herrmann's throw hit Hernandez in between the shoulder blades and caromed behind third base, allowing Hernandez to score.
Arizona then intentionally walked Scott Van Slyke to bring up Wood, and Van Slyke attempted a steal of second.
"I felt good about giving him an opportunity at the complete game", Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. Barnes' homer made it 3-0 in the second.
The two formed a potent 1-2 pitching rotation punch from 2013-15 with the Dodgers. He went only five innings in each of his first two starts. Saturday's starting shortstop quickly erased a two-run deficit with a three-run jack in the second inning, marking his first home run of the season and his first since June 18 at Philadelphia.
INTERNATIONAL: North Korea missile launch fails, says South Korea
Though many watchers say that the missiles are just uncompleted mockups, we can not dismiss the possibility that they are real. Another missile test from Sinpo failed earlier this month, when the rocket spun out of control and plunged into the ocean.
Nick Ahmed homered and drove in four runs for Arizona.
Formerly a pair of aces on a Dodgers' staff that won three consecutive National League West titles, the two have been on division rivals the past two seasons, but Friday was the first time they ever faced off.
LOS ANGELES The sixth inning remains a myth for starting pitcher Kenta Maeda, but on Saturday, the Dodgers' hitters prevented a budding problem from turning into a disaster.
In the fourth, after a two-out single by Toles and a walk to Seager, Turner drilled a two-run double to right for a 4-0 Los Angeles advantage.
Dodgers: Forsythe left the game after the fourth inning for what the Dodgers called precautionary reasons after his right hamstring tightened up. Several players are looking to get untracked after struggling against the Giants, including A.J. Pollock, Paul Goldschmidt and Brandon Drury, who were a combined 4-for-36 in the three-game series.
Diamondbacks: RHP Taijuan Walker (1-1) starts the series finale.
"I hope I can pitch the same way no matter where it is", Kershaw said. He's had one career start against the Dodgers, losing 5-2 on April 15, 2015.
Comments