“That was really a turning point”, Arizona 1B Paul Goldschmidt said. Thoughts of the 1964 Phillies, 1978 Red Sox and 1995 Angels haven’t even crossed their minds.
Advertisement
The Zack Greinke news did not come at a great moment for the Dodgers, Manager Don Mattingly acknowledged Wednesday. In that game, against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he went seven innings and allowed two runs. Los Angeles is 9-3 to the UNDER in its last 12 home games while Arizona is 7-3 in its last 10 road games.
Arizona Diamondbacks’ Paul Goldschmidt, right, is congratulated by teammates after hitting a solo home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tuesday, September 22, 2015, in Los Angeles.
“I wasn’t going to fight too hard, especially after the previous outing”, he told MLB’s official website.
“I wish we could have won some more games and were in the playoff race, but this entire group of guys has been one of the best, if not the best, I’ve ever been around”, Goldschmidt said.
Arizona’s first run on came in the fourth, when Nick Ahmed led off with a double, advanced on Chris Owings’ sacrifice and scored on Pollock’s groundout. “They bring a good atmosphere every time out and it was fun to keep them quiet”.
The trouble here is Ahmed ended up having to leave the game later in the inning with back issue, shaking his head during a meeting at the mound.
Pollock chased Wood with his 18th homer, a one-out drive that hit the top of the center field fence and bounced over.
The Dodgers bullpen, which has been inconsistent all season, allowed six runs on eight hits in just 2.2 innings of relief.
Goldschmidt is hitting.340 with 20 homers and 61 RBIs in 74 career games against the Dodgers – the highest totals by any player against them since Goldschmidt made his big league debut on August 1, 2011. His 18 home runs are a career high.
Hill’s solo shot – his sixth homer this season – lifted Arizona to a 3-2 lead in the fifth. The Dodgers would certainly prefer their position in the standing over that of their rivals, but finishing off a team that has overcome the most remarkable of odds to claim three World Series titles in five years does leave just a sliver of uneasiness.
The Diamondbacks have already been eliminated and were losers of 11 of 15 games to the Dodgers this season, but they were clearly not going through the motions in the four-game series opener. Starting pitcher Robbie Ray allowed three hits and struck out seven over 6.0 innings to get the win and raise his record to 5-12 for the season.
Advertisement
Pitching before an announced crowd of 38,791 at Dodger Stadium on Monday, Anderson suffered his shortest non-injury related start since April.
