With four wins in the past five games, the Dodgers have mercifully broken out of their bad two-week stretch to end June.
And with his first win of the year, Nathan Eovaldi is looking to build a winning streak of his own.
Scott Van Slyke and Elian Herrera homered, Eovaldi went six strong, and the bullpen was untouchable. Tally it all up, and it was another win for the Dodgers over the Diamondbacks, 4-1. The Giants blew a lead against the Nationals, so the lead the NL West is up 1 1/2 games.
Much like the Fourth of July against the Reds, the Dodgers got on the board in the opening inning. It all started with the returning Mark Ellis, who doubled in his first at-bat since May 18. Three straight hits came after that, as Jerry Hairston, Jr. singled for runners on the corners. Juan Rivera's RBI double made it 1-0. Luis Cruz has been a big lift in his brief time, and his RBI single put the Dodgers up 2-0.
The DBacks cut the lead in half in the second, though it could have (and probably should have) been a whole lot worse. The bases became loaded right away on a walk to Jason Kubel, a double by Paul Goldschmidt, and a walk to Miguel Montero. Aaron Hill has had a good year, but he grounded into the 1-2-3 double play, pretty much the perfect thing to happen for the Dodgers.
Stephen Drew got something out of the inning at least, as an RBI single to right made it 2-1. Wade Miley grounded out to end the inning.
It was all about the longball and pitching from there. Yes, the Dodgers actually hit multiple home runs in a game. Van Slyke has been struggling at the plate to say the least, as he came into this game hitting .170 in 46 at-bats. But, he put one out into deep left to make it 3-1 in the fourth.
Eovaldi got through the fifth and sixth thanks to a couple of inning ending double plays. He must have done something right with runners on considering the DBacks grounded into three of those.
The seventh was interesting, as Tony Gywnn walked leading off. Eovaldi was lifted for Juan Uribe to pinch-hit. As Vin Scully was going on and on about how Don Mattingly has been working with Uribe on his hitting... Uribe grounded into the easy double play. Wow does he suck. I mean he's really, REALLY bad. And that's just all there is to it.
Herrera, however, stepped up next and hit his first career homer, just sneaking over the wall in left, making it 4-1. He hasn't hit a lick lately, but with Dee Gordon out six weeks and options limited, Mattingly stuck him in the leadoff spot and he got on a couple times.
The bullpen made sure the DBacks looked even weaker from there. Scott Elbert pitched the seventh and got a strikeout. Ronald Belisario did the same in the eighth. Finally, Kenley Jansen shut the door in the ninth by striking out the side. Three innings, no hits, five strikeouts. That's some great stuff. And that's an understatement.
It's good to see Eovaldi rewarded for a good start. Through five starts, he was 0-3 with a 2.35 ERA. He got hit around his previous two starts to raise those numbers to 0-5 and 4.61. After going six innings for five hits, one run, no walks, and three strikeouts, he finally gets that elusive first win with a 4.21 ERA.
The DBacks only have one All-Star representative this year, and that's Miley. So it was good to see the Dodgers get to him at first to make the home fans even more disgruntled. What are they mad about the most? The fact that Justin Upton is hitting only .266 with 7 homers and 34 RBIs. Not terrible numbers, but certainly not ones you'd build a franchise around. He's still very talented, so maybe we should enjoy his slump while it lasts.
With three games left before the All-Star break, the Dodgers have a great opportunity to not only stay in first place, but increase upon it as well. The Giants have to go to Pittsburgh starting tonight, and those games are suddenly tough, thanks to a resurgent Pirates squad. Clayton Kershaw will get the ball tonight against Josh Collmenter.
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