On Monday, the Los Angeles Dodgers dropped the series opener with a blown lead against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and they almost did it again on Tuesday despite a far better offensive performance.
Fortunately, they were able to pull off the win this time thanks to scoring enough insurance while their pitching staff had an overall poor night. Still, the D-Backs continued to play the Dodgers hard and never felt like they were out of the game, even when the Dodgers had a significant lead.
The two teams are now tied at one game each in the four-game series.
Dodgers 6, Diamondbacks 5: key takeaways
Dodgers offense rebounds after poor showing
After scoring just one run in the series opener on Monday, the Dodgers bounced back for six runs in the second game. They started the scoring early when Shohei Ohtani hit a leadoff double and scored when Freddie Freeman blasted a two-run homer in the first inning.
In the second, Dalton Rushing and Alex Freeland hit a pair of singles and then scored on a triple from Ohtani that put the Dodgers up 4-0.
The Dodgers didn’t add onto their lead until the seventh inning, but ultimately put together a rally started off by a leadoff double from Rushing. After a sacrifice bunt by Freeland and an intentional walk to Ohtani, Andy Pages hit a sac fly to make it a 5-2 game.
A single from Freeman put runners at the corners, and Mookie Betts followed with an RBI single to put the Dodgers up by four runs, which proved to be huge as the game went on.
Eric Lauer turns in short outing
Eric Lauer was far less effective in his second start for the Dodgers and only managed to pitch 4.2 innings. He still limited the damage to just two runs, but also required some help from the bullpen to keep it at two runs.
Lauer gave up a solo home run to Corbin Carroll in the third inning that cut the Dodgers’ lead to 4-1. Then in the fifth inning, he gave up a pair of singles and then a sacrifice fly to make it a 4-2 game.
The left-hander then balked a runner into scoring position and struck out Corbin Carroll to finish off his outing. Blake Treinen entered and walked Gabriel Moreno, but got Nolan Arendao to fly out to end the inning.
Dodgers bullpen struggles
Edgardo Henriquez allowed two runners to reach in the sixth inning via a single and fielder’s choice, but worked out of it by getting a pop out and ground out.
However, Kyle Hurt and Will Klein didn’t have the same success in escaping tough situations. Hurt entered in the seventh and walked Ketel Marte and Gabriel Moreno before allowing a double to Nolan Arenado that made it a 6-4 game.
Hurt then walked Ildemaro Vargas before being replaced by Will Klein, who immediatley allowed a single that loaded the bases. Klein followed that by walking Pavin Smith to cut the Dodgers’ lead to just one run before escaping the inning.
Klein was back out there for the eighth and allowed a pair of one-out singles, but did record a double play to end the inning.
Tanner Scott entered in the ninth looking to protect a one-run lead after blowing the game in his previous outing. But he was much better in this one as he shut down the D-Backs to secure the win, despite allowing a one-out single.
Overall, the Dodgers pitching staff allowed six walks and struck out just four. The only clean inning from the pitching staff came in the first inning from Lauer as they dealt with traffic in each inning from that point on.
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