Shohei Ohtani (17) of Los Angeles Dodgers high fives teammates after scoring on a ground rule double hit by Teoscar Hernández during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Monday, April 29, 2024, in Phoenix.
13:58 JST, Apr 30, 2024
PHOENIX (AP) — Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages both hit two-run doubles in a big fifth inning, Will Smith added a solo home run and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-4 on Monday night.
Pages finished with three RBIs, the second time he had that many in 12 career games. The 23-year-old rookie pushed his hitting streak to seven games and is batting .298 with an .846 OPS since his big league debut on April 16.
Shohei Ohtani had two hits, a walk and an RBI for the Dodgers, who have won seven of their last eight.
April 29, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) singles against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning at Chase Field.
The D-backs have dropped four of five.
The Dodgers led 2-1 in the fifth when Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Smith all walked Andrew Saalfrank with one out. Hernández followed with a rocket into the right-center gap that bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double, scoring two runs.
Three batters later, Pages made it 6-1 with a hard hit down the third base line off Scott McGough, scoring Smith and Hernandez.
It was the first time the D-backs and Dodgers played each other since Arizona swept Los Angeles in the three-game National League Division Series last season. The series win was part of the D-backs’ surprising playoff run to the World Series.
Arizona narrowed the margin to 6-4 in the fifth. Eugenio Suárez hit an RBI single, Randal Grichuk hit a sacrifice fly and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. came home on a wild pitch.
But Smith gave the Dodgers a 7-4 lead in the sixth after hitting a home run to center, high above the batter’s eye above the wall.
Dodgers lefty James Paxton (3-0) gave up four runs and six hits in five innings. He struggled with his control, walking five and striking out four.
Los Angeles took a 2-1 lead in the second on Kiké Hernández’s RBI double and Pages’ sacrifice fly. Ohtani had a chance to do more damage — he came home with the bases loaded and one out — but grounded into a double play.
Arizona left-hander Tommy Henry (1-2) gave up two runs, five hits and two walks in four innings.
