By ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Freddie Freeman’s grand slam keyed a six-run third inning, Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a strong start and the Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to four with a 6-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night, May 20.
Freeman’s blast off Slade Cecconi (1-4) was part of an onslaught where the first six Dodgers got aboard and scored in the third.
Kiké Hernández and Will Smith also went deep in the inning as Los Angeles improved to 33-17. It is the ninth time in franchise history the Dodgers have at least 33 wins after 50 games.
Yamamoto (5-1) allowed two runs on seven hits and struck out eight in 6 1/3 innings. He threw a season-high 100 pitches, including 69 strikes.
It was the 18th time in 27 games a Dodgers’ starter has gone at least six innings.
Daniel Hudson retired the side in the ninth for his third save in five opportunities.
“Offensively we are doing enough to score some runs to win,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think that there’s room to continue to get better consistency up and down the lineup. But the pitching has been what has been the impetus for this hot streak.”
Arizona’s Ketel Marte extended his hitting streak to 19 games. It is the longest run in the majors this season and tied for fifth-longest in franchise history.
Kyle Newman added three hits, his fifth multi-hit effort in the last nine games. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Jake McCarthy had back-to-back homers in the eighth, but the Diamondbacks have dropped four of six.
“I was very pleased with our approach. We built innings and had baserunners. We couldn’t get the big hit at the right time,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said.
Freeman’s grand slam was the sixth of his career and his third since the start of last season. He is one of seven players with three over the past two seasons.
The Dodgers are the only team in the majors with two players with at least three grand slams since the start of 2023. Max Muncy leads the team with four.
“I’m not looking for the grand slam, but just trying to keep the line moving and get a base hit there. Ultimately, I was able to get it out,” Freeman said.
It didn’t take the Dodgers long to respond after the Diamondbacks opened the scoring on Joc Pederson’s RBI base hit to center.
Hernández led off the inning with a drive to center to tie it at 1-all. Miguel Rojas and Mookie Betts followed with singles before Shohei Ohtani drew a walk to load the bases.
Freeman then got hold of Cecconi’s fastball that was low in the strike zone and put it over the wall in right-center for his fifth homer of the year. It also was the third grand slam this season for the Dodgers.
Five pitches later, Smith added a solo shot to left-center, marking the second time this season the Dodgers have had back-to-back homers.
“I gave them pitches to hit and they hit them,” Cecconi said. “It’s obvious that they hit a lot of home runs and put a lot of barrels on baseballs and they did that in the third.”
