Arizona Diamondbacks defeat Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 to avoid sweep – MLB Update
The Arizona Diamondbacks romped to a 4-3 win in the last game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday, August 7 to avoid series sweep.
The D-backs second baseman Kelly Johnson launched a stunning 416-feet long two-run homer against the Dodgers’ starter Clayton Kershaw. It provided the D-backs their desired start required to nip the dominating Los Angeles.
Their starter Ian Kennedy provided the best support to this advantage and tossed four scoreless innings to create the heavy pressure. He allowed his first run, on a homer in the top of the fifth inning to the Dodgers’ James Loney, who blistered a fast pitch
to right-centre to reduce the lead to 2-1. The Dodgers then grabbed the game into their side with an RBI single each by Andre Ethier and Juan Rivera in the top of the sixth inning.
The D-backs did not let the Dodgers enjoy this lead more than one inning, as their short-stop Cody Ransom launched a 417-feet long two-run homer to get his team out of extreme pressure.
"He was the player of the game, making a lot of good plays on defense, a couple of big plays and makes a big home run right there," Kennedy said of Ransom.
David Hernandez tossed the crushing eighth to get his 15th hold and Putz destroyed all hopes of Dodgers with his nine pitches long one inning. It provided him the 26th save of the season.
Kennedy allowed three runs, six hits and one walk to get three batters over seven innings. He won his fourteenth game and improved his record to 14-3 with a 3.20 ERA in this season. Kennedy is holding the second position in National League in wins and has
been the most consistent pitcher of the D-backs in 2011 regular season.
"It was just a typical Ian game," Diamondbacks’ manager Kirk Gibson said. "Lots of strikes. Lots of strikes. He just kept his composure."
Kershaw, on the other hand lost his first game since July 2, allowing four runs on five hits and walking three batters in just over six innings. He also allowed two homers that ended his five game winning streak. Besides this loss, Kershaw is still excellent
with a 2.79 ERA with thirteen wins in 24 appearances this season.
Josh Lindblom got a chance only for one inning and proved he can still be rated among the top relievers. He tossed 18 pitches, 13 out of which were strikes but he did not get enough support from his batting line-up that includes Aaron Miles, Matt Kemp and
James Loney. Kemp landed for four at-bats but could manage only one hit over seven pitches he faced.
The Dodgers’ camp however has high morale to nip down the National League leaders Philadelphia. The Phillies are currently leading the majors with 74 wins.
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