By ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Joc Pederson slugged a three-run homer for his 500th career RBI, Christian Walker went deep and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-3 on Tuesday night, May 21.
The Dodgers had their four-game winning streak at home snapped as they got outhit, 12-6.
Every player in the D-backs’ starting lineup notched at least one hit as they won at Dodger Stadium for the first time since April 2, 2023.
“That’s who we want to be — never die, if you give us a chance, give us a breath, we’re going to drive a run across,” Walker said.
Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt (2-3) didn’t allow a hit until the fourth, when Shohei Ohtani doubled leading off. The Japanese superstar stole third — tearing his pants sliding — and scored on catcher Gabriel Moreno’s throw that went into left field. The unearned run left the Dodgers trailing 2-1.
“Never backed down, went right at them,” Walker said of Pfaadt.
The Dodgers pulled to 4-3 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth. Miguel Vargas doubled leading off, took third on Mookie Betts’ flyout and scored on Ohtani’s RBI single to make it 4-2. Ohtani stole second after Freddie Freeman struck out and he scored on Will Smith’s RBI double to center.
Ohtani went 2 for 4 with a strikeout, scored twice, drove in a run and stole two bases. He leads the majors in extra-base hits with 31 and total bases with 127. Betts was hitless in three at-bats with a walk on his bobblehead night.
Reliever Michael Grove walked Kevin Newman to open the seventh. After Corbin Carroll struck out, Ketel Marte singled to extend his career-high hitting streak to 20 games — longest in the majors this season — and Pederson followed with a blast to the right-field pavilion against his old team, making it 7-3. Pederson ranks fourth with 76 homers at Dodger Stadium since his big league debut in 2014.
“It’s fun hitting homers everywhere,” Pederson said.
Walker hit his 21st career homer against the Dodgers leading off the sixth. He credits Pederson for loosening up the clubhouse since the designated hitter signed a one-year deal with the D-backs in January.
“He’s fit in great,” Walker said. “His kind of low maintenance, fun, anything can happen is good for this clubhouse. Knowing when to to take things seriously, knowing when to laugh things off is important. I’m trying to learn from Joc.”
Pfaadt allowed three runs and four hits in six innings. The right-hander struck out seven and walked one.
Dodgers starter Gavin Stone (4-2) gave up four consecutive singles in the first, when the D-backs led 2-0 on RBI singles by Eugenio Suárez and Moreno.
