Christian Walker hit two home runs, including a game-ending two-run shot in the 10th inning, as the Arizona Diamondbacks stung the Los Angeles Dodgers by picking up a 4-3 victory in Phoenix on Tuesday.
Six Arizona pitchers held the Dodgers to zero RBIs through nine innings as the Diamondbacks won for just the second time in their past six games. The victory came after a one-hour, 55-minute delay at the outset, as a colony of bees formed on the netting behind home plate.
A beekeeper removed the cluster to a standing ovation, and he stayed to throw out the first pitch before play ultimately began.
Will Smith gave the Dodgers a brief lead with a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning after Los Angeles scored its first two runs on a wild pitch and a balk. Rookie Landon Knack gave up one run on four hits over five-plus innings for the Dodgers.
The Dodgers’ loss included three strikeouts for Shohei Ohtani, his most since joining his new team and one off his career high.
Left-hander Brandon Hughes started and went one inning in his Arizona debut after scheduled starter Jordan Montgomery was scratched because of the delay to open the game. Right-hander Scott McGough (1-3) gave up a run in the 10th but earned the win.
The Diamondbacks scored first when Walker hit a solo home run to left-center field off Knack in the fourth.
The Dodgers loaded the bases with one out in the fifth and had Ohtani at the plate, but they scored just once to tie it 1-1 on a Joe Mantiply wild pitch. Mantiply continued to bear gifts in the sixth inning, committing a balk to allow Smith to score and give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.
Arizona knotted things at 2-2 in the eighth inning against right-hander Daniel Hudson when former Dodger Joc Pederson doubled and scored on a Gabriel Moreno single to right field.
Walker’s game-winning blast, his seventh homer of the season, came on the third pitch of the home half of the 10th. Nabil Crismatt (1-1) served up the long ball.
–Field Level Media
