ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Sedona Red Recap: D-backs’ offensive explosion leads to victory over Dodgers

Apr 21, 2017, 11:26 PM | Updated: Apr 22, 2017, 8:41 am

Arizona Diamondbacks' Paul Goldschmidt (44) and Chris Owings (16) slap hands after both scored agai...

Arizona Diamondbacks' Paul Goldschmidt (44) and Chris Owings (16) slap hands after both scored against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fifth inning of a baseball game Friday, April 21, 2017, in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks defeated the Dodgers 13-5. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

PHOENIX — So, about that stalled Arizona Diamondbacks offense.

Apparently, all it took was a return to Chase Field, where the D-backs are now 7-1 following Friday’s 13-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers to open a three-game series and 10-game homestand.

The 13 runs scored were a season-high.

Daniel Descalso, Paul Goldschmidt, Chris Iannetta, Jake Lamb and Yasmany Tomas each had two RBI, while A.J. Pollock fell a triple shy of the cycle with three hits and an RBI.

The D-backs (11-7) scored a season-best nine runs in the eighth inning, breaking open a close game. Chris Taylor’s pinch-hit home run off Archie Bradley had given the Dodgers a 5-4 lead in the seventh.

After failed scoring threats in the sixth and seventh innings, the D-backs sent 14 batters to the plate in the eighth much to the delight of the 27,018 in attendance.

The nine runs were scored on six hits, five walks, including one intentional, and a balk to help account for the team’s eighth comeback win of the season.

Neither starter factored in the decision.

Taijuan Walker flirted with danger much of the night. He was finally removed from the game after Andrew Toles tied the score at four with a two-out single in the sixth inning.

Walker allowed four runs on seven hits, including a home run, with one walk and six strikeouts in 5.2 innings.

Alex Wood, meanwhile, went 4.2 innings. The D-backs roughed him up for four runs on seven hits.

The D-backs, who scored just one run in their previous two games, have now won three straight over the Dodgers (8-9).

THE GOOD

With one swing of the bat, the D-backs cut the Dodgers’ first-inning lead in half. Pollock launched Wood’s second offering, a 92-mph fastball, into the pool area for his first career leadoff home run. It was Pollock’s second homer of the season, and first since Opening Day.

Two innings later, Pollock scored the game-tying run. With one out in the third, he and Chris Owings recorded back-to-back doubles; the latter into the left field corner to bring home Pollock with the D-backs’ second run. Owings has now hit safely in 12 of his last 15 games.

Add another two RBI to Lamb’s season total. He’s got 16, tops on the team and tied for third-most in the National League. Lamb’s two-out, two-run single up the middle plated Owings with the tying run and Goldschmidt with the go-ahead run in the fifth inning.

Hitting at Chase Field agrees with Tomas, who after his 1-for-5 effort is now batting .337 (33-for-98) with seven home runs and 31 RBI in his last 25 games at home. Tomas was the ninth hitter to bat in the eighth inning. His RBI single made it 10-5 with only one out.

With two hits in four at-bats, Goldschmidt exceeded his hit total in the entire three-game series in San Diego, when he went 1-for-10. Goldschmidt raised his batting average to .254 after it had fallen to as low as .236 thanks to road trip in which he batted only .152 (5-for-33).

THE BAD

Six pitches into the game and the Dodgers had a 2-0 lead. Corey Seager sent Walker’s 94-mph fastball onto the concourse just to the left of the batter’s eye in straightaway center field, scoring Joc Pederson who hit a leadoff single. For Seager, it was his third home run of the season, and first in 10 games. For Walker, it was the second long ball he had surrendered this season, and the first since April 4.

The Pederson-Seager combination struck again in the fifth inning. With two outs, Pederson doubled to right field and Seager followed—on the very next pitch—with a single to center field. Seager’s third RBI of the game made it 3-2 Dodgers. He leads the Dodgers, by the way, with 14 RBI, and he’s now recorded at least one hit in 13 of 17 games to begin the season, hitting .308 (20-for-65).

Pitching with the lead for the first time in the game, Walker was unable to close out the Dodgers in the sixth inning. After two quick outs, Yasmani Grandal doubled and advanced to third on David Peralta’s fielding error (his first of the season and the D-backs’ 16th, the most in the National League). That brought the left-handed hitting Toles to the plate and he singled up the middle to tie the game at 4.

The date was Oct. 1, 2016. That’s the last time Bradley had allowed an earned run. His 13.1-inning scoreless streak, including 9.1 innings this season, ended with Taylor’s pinch-hit home run to lead off the seventh inning. Taylor ripped a 95-mph fastball over the seats in left field for his first homer of the season and first career pinch-hit homer, as well as the Dodgers first pinch-hit homer of the season.

STAT OF THE GAME

6: Six times in eight home games the D-backs have scored six or more runs as compared to two such performances in 10 road games

HE SAID IT

“I thought the at-bats that were inside of that one inning were patient; exactly what we’re talking about as far as handing it off to the next guy and letting them execute,” manager Torey Lovullo said, referring to the eighth inning. “It was much-needed after a couple of lean games offensively. Exactly what we needed.”

NOTED

The D-backs’ 7-1 start at Chase Field is tied for the best start at home in franchise history

Walker retired nine straight batters, including three strikeouts, after the Seager home run

Pollock is 12-for-21 (.571) in his last five games, raising his overall batting average to .306

Lamb, 1-for-4 with a walk, has reached base safely in a career-long 16 consecutive games

Goldschmidt earned his second (and the team’s third) no-pitch intentional walk in the fifth

Owings prevented the go-ahead run from scoring, throwing out Justin Turner in the fourth

Greg Shulte was recognized for calling his 3,000th D-backs game mid-inning in the fourth

Zack Greinke received his 2016 Gold Glove Award, the third of his career, before the game

With a first-pitch temperature of 91 degrees, the roof was open but the panels were closed

UP NEXT

For the second time in as many starts, left-hander Robbie Ray will take the mound against the Dodgers. He’s lined up opposite right-hander Kenta Maeda in game two of the three-game series on Saturday, April 22, otherwise known as Earth Day.

First pitch is scheduled for 5:10 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 40 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

Ray (1-0) allowed one run and struck out 10 in six innings, but he did not factor in the decision in his last start on April 17 at Dodger Stadium.

Ray is 3-3 with a 2.80 ERA in nine career starts against the Dodgers.

Maeda, too, is seeing the same opponent for the second straight start. And he, too, did not factor in the decision despite the D-backs scoring four runs on four hits in four innings off the three-year veteran a week ago Saturday, an 8-4 Dodgers’ victory.

In three career starts at Chase Field, Maeda has gone 2-1 with a 4.91 ERA.

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Sedona Red Recap: D-backs’ offensive explosion leads to victory over Dodgers