The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 on Sunday in Phoenix thanks to Tyler Anderson’s six shutout innings and a home run from Will Smith.
While Clayton Kershaw and Andrew Heaney were off with an injury, the Dodgers’ rotation got a much-needed boost from Anderson (6-0). In his last 21 innings, spanning three starts, the veteran left-hander gave up just two earned runs while scattered five hits.
“His execution was fantastic,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “To be quite honest, we didn’t play good defense behind him. There’s a lot of plays we make that we didn’t make, but he didn’t bat an eye, picked us up, and made pitches when he needed.”
Match highlights
In the second inning, Smith led off Zach Davies’s home run-off (2-3). Smith gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead by launching the 12th pitch of the at-bat into the swimming pool at Chase Field, which is set just behind the wall in the right-center field.
Smith’s extensive plate appearance began with two called strikes, three balls, and six foul balls before he smashed his fifth home run.
The Dodgers scored two additional runs in the third inning thanks to an RBI single by Freddie Freeman and an RBI groundout by Trea Turner. Despite having only four hits, the Dodgers could pull out the victory.
Turner hit a single in the sixth inning to extend his hitting streak to 21 games. With three home runs and 19 RBIs, he batted .354 (29-for-82) throughout his streak.
In 5 1/3 innings, Davies gave up three runs on four hits. The pitcher walked just two and struck out five while tossing 92 pitches. Meanwhile, Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte’s first-inning double extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
The Diamondbacks had runners at the corners in the fifth inning with two outs. Nevertheless, Anderson struck out Jose Rojas to conclude the inning for the Diamondbacks.
Before Kimbrel entered the game in the ninth and allowed David Peralta’s game-winning triple with two outs, David Price and Evan Phillips each threw a scoreless inning.
“It wasn’t an ideal series for us,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “We made a game of it in the ninth inning, some good clutch hitting by David gave us a chance to bring the tying run-up to the plate. But prior to that, I thought we could have done a few more things in better fashion.”
In the four games of the series, Los Angeles outscored Arizona 26-8 and finished its 10-game road trip with an 8-2 mark.
Pillar’s debut
Kevin Pillar made his Dodgers debut on Sunday, the first of two consecutive starts. He did not get a hit in three at-bats, but he made a spectacular diving catch in the fourth inning.
During a flurry of roster moves on Saturday, the team picked Pillar’s contract and placed Max Muncy on the 10-day injured list due to left elbow inflammation.
The Dodgers WILL return to Dodger Stadium on Monday to begin a three-game set against the Pittsburgh Pirates. RHP Walker Buehler will start for the Dodgers (6-1, 2.91 ERA), while Pittsburgh will start RHP Zach Thompson (2-4, 5.20). Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks will begin a three-game series at home with the Atlanta Braves on the same day. Arizona will start with RHP Zac Gallen while Atlanta with RHP Spencer Strider (1-1, 2.22).
