The Arizona Diamondbacks went to the well one more time, jumping on Kenta Maeda and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first inning en route to completing a three-game series sweep at Chase Field. The sweep was a first for the Dodgers this season and extended their losing streak to five games.
The Dodgers progressively improved in the first inning, with Rich Hill allowing five runs on Tuesday, Hyun-Jin Ryu three on Wednesday, and Maeda two in the finale. Paul Goldschmidt’s two-run double got the Diamondbacks on the board, then an RBI double by Gregor Blanco and Chris Iannetta’s two-run homer in the second extended the lead to 5-1.
A.J. Pollock lined a two-run home run to left field in the third. That was the final inning for Maeda, who allowed a career-high seven earned runs.
Of his eight hits allowed, six went for extra bases. The outing was reminiscent of an April start at Chase Field when he surrendered four home runs in five innings.
Dodgers starting pitchers in the series allowed a combined to allow 19 runs on 24 hits (seven doubles, six home runs) in just 10.2 innings.
Daniel Descalso hit an RBI single off Josh Ravin with one out in the bottom of the fifth to extend the Diamondbacks’ lead to 8-1. That came after Ravin hit Pollock with a fastball, which could have been interpreted as retribution for the Diamondbacks plunking Cody Bellinger the night prior.
Although Zack Greinke was spotted a comfortable lead, he failed to pitch deep into the game. Greinke battled a high pitch count, threw three wild pitches, struck out six and allowed one run on four hits.
That came on Adrian Gonzalez’s double in the second inning that scored Yasmani Grandal, who reached on a single. Grandal also singled in the sixth and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, but was stranded by Curtis Granderson.
The Dodgers had two runners reach in the eighth inning but couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity. The Diamondbacks’ 8-1 victory extended their winning streak to seven games.
If there was a silver lining to be had for the Dodgers, their bullpen allowed just one run on two hits and collected five strikeouts over five innings.
