Eduardo Rodriguez had already done plenty to trouble the Dodgers this season. On Friday night, he finally got the result to match it.
After opening the game by giving up back-to-back homers to Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages, Rodriguez settled in and blanked Los Angeles the rest of the way, helping the Diamondbacks roll to a 9-3 win at Dodger Stadium in the opener of a three-game series.
Rodriguez worked six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out five, finishing the first half at 8-3 with a 2.29 ERA. Once the first-inning damage was done, the Dodgers barely got anything else going against him, with only one baserunner reaching past second base.
The outing was a sharp turn from Rodriguez’s earlier starts against Los Angeles this year. He threw five innings with one unearned run on March 28 and six innings with one run on June 1, but both times he was left with a no-decision.
This time, Arizona’s lineup made sure he didn’t leave empty-handed. Tim Tawa went 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs, while Gabriel Moreno added a single and drove in two. Moreno also stretched his on-base streak to 30 consecutive starts.
The Diamondbacks also took advantage of a rough night for the Dodgers defense, which was charged with three throwing errors, two wild pitches and a balk.
With Ohtani scratched from his mound start and Los Angeles forced into a bullpen game, Arizona kept pressing. The D-backs scored two runs in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, building an 8-2 cushion by the time Rodriguez exited and locking up his first win of the season against the two-time defending champions.
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