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PHOENIX –– After his customary round of pregame picking drills on Tuesday afternoon, Freddie Freeman took the long way back to the clubhouse, going to the bat rack on the far side of the dugout first to rub his bats a few hours before first pitch.
“Gotta wake them up,” Freeman said jokingly
In a 6-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, the ritual appeared to work.
Freeman opened the scoring in the Dodgers’ victory at Chase Field with a two-run home run in the top of the first. Shohei Ohtani doubled their lead with a two-run triple the following inning. Both superstars contributed to another two-run rally in the seventh.
And on a night the bullpen played with fire, every bit of it was needed as the Dodgers bounced back from Monday’s series-opening loss with a narrow defeat of an intradivision rival.
Despite leading 6-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, the Dodgers’ relievers almost made things messy.
Following a 4 ⅔-innings, two-run start from Eric Lauer, then scoreless appearances from Blake Treinen (who escaped a jam in the fifth with the help of a diving catch by Ryan Ward) and Edgardo Henriquez (whose fastball topped out at 103.6 mph, the second-hardest throw by any pitcher in the big leagues this year), right-hander Kyle Hurt suffered his worst outing of the season, getting charged with three runs in a three-walk dud.
The first two runs scored on a double from Nolan Arenado (which was aided by a bobble from Ward in left). The next came after Will Klein inherited the mess and issued a bases-loaded walk.
Coincidentally or not, the rally started right after a section of Arizona fans went #TarpsOff in the upper deck of right field.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
