Albert Pujols enjoyed a successful debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers by contributing in a 3-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. L.A. has now won five of their past six games, with each of those coming during the homestand.
Pujols started at first base and hit cleanup, finishing the night 1-for-4 with one RBI. That came with two outs in the third inning to extend the Dodgers’ lead to 2-0 and ultimately held as the game-winning run.
Although Madison Bumgarner allowed just the two runs, he only pitched four innings. He exited due to an apparent injury and also was hurt by Justin Turner and Will Smith each working long plate appearances to raise the pitch count.
Turner battled back from an 0-2 count to walk on 10 pitches in the third, which moved Mookie Betts into scoring position and paid off two batters later on Pujols’ base hit. Smith also worked Bumgarner for 10 pitches, though grounded out to end the third.
Bumgarner taking the loss was his first in the past six starts as he entered 4-0 with a 0.90 ERA and 34 strikeouts in the previous five outings.
Walker Buehler was effective, if not dominant, for most of the night. He walked himself into trouble in the fourth inning by putting three straight batters on. A visit from Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior helped Buehler settle back in.
He worked out of the jam and proceeded to retire the final 11 batters faced to get through seven innings with just one hit allowed. The lone hit Buehler allowed was an infield single to Josh Rojas on a chopper in the first inning.
Buehler kept his streak alive of throwing at least six innings in each of his starts this season.
Arizona began to mount a comeback against Victor Gonzalez in the eighth, aided by a one-out walk that came around to score two singles later. That led to Kenley Jansen being asked to complete for a four-out save, which he did and received insurance from Gavin Lux hitting an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to provide insurance.
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