Shohei Ohtani Has Two Singles, A Walk and An RBI; Dodgers Beat Diamondbacks 8-4

AP

13:58 JST, April 30, 2024

PHOENIX (AP) — Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages both hit two-run doubles in a big fifth inning, Will Smith added a solo homer and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat 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 singles, a walk and an RBI for the Dodgers, who have won seven of their past eight.

The D-backs have dropped four of five.

The Dodgers led 2-1 in the fifth when Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Smith all drew one-out walks Andrew Saalfrank. 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 ball down the third base line off Scott McGough that scored Smith and Hernandez.

It was the first time the D-backs and Dodgers played each other since Arizona swept a three-game National League Division Series against Los Angeles last season. The series win was part of the the D-backs’ surprising playoff run to the World Series.

Arizona cut the margin to 6-4 in the fifth. Eugenio Suárez had an RBI single, Randal Grichuk hit a sacrifice fly and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. came home on a wild pitch.

But Smith put the Dodgers up 7-4 in the sixth after clobbering a home run to dead center, high off the batter’s eye above the wall.

Dodgers lefty James Paxton (3-0) gave up four runs and six hits over five innings. He struggled with his control, walking five and striking out four.

Los Angeles pulled ahead 2-1 in the second on Kiké Hernández’s RBI double and Pages’ sacrifice fly. Ohtani had the chance to do more damage — coming to the plate with the bases loaded and one out — but grounded into a double play.

Arizona left-hander Tommy Henry (1-2) gave up two runs and five hits and two walks over four innings.