Mookie Betts hit a three-run homer and Kyle Tucker delivered a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrated their championship-ring night with a 5-4 victory over the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.
Alex Freeland homered, doubled and scored the winning run in his season debut. Edwin Diaz recorded the save in his Dodgers debut as the club opened its quest for a third consecutive title with two wins in two games.
Los Angeles scored its five runs with four hits and three walks. Edgardo Henriquez (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for his third career win.
Alek Thomas drove in three runs on a pair of doubles and Ketel Marte hit a home run for the Diamondbacks. Ryne Nelson gave up four runs on two hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings, striking out four. Kevin Ginkel (0-1) was unable to preserve a 4-4 tie in the eighth.
Arizona took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Gabriel Moreno singled, Pavin Smith walked. With two outs, Thomas doubled to right, bringing home Moreno, but Smith was thrown out at the plate.
Marte made it 2-0 in the third on his first home run of the season.
The Dodgers scored four times in the third. Freeland, the No. 9 hitter, hit a solo shot on his first at-bat of the season. Shohei Ohtani and Tucker followed with walks before Betts hit a three-run shot to right-center, his first, for a 4-2 lead.
The Diamondbacks pulled even in the fourth when Jack Dreyer replaced starter Emmet Sheehan with two on and one out, and the left-hander immediately gave up a two-run double to Thomas.
Arizona pitching retired 14 consecutive Los Angeles batters after Betts’ home run in the third. Freeland ended the drought with a leadoff double in the eighth off Ginkel, went to third on a groundout by Ohtani and scored on Tucker’s single to right through a drawn-in infield.
Diaz, who was signed by the Dodgers to a three-year, $69 million free agent deal in the offseason, struck out Carlos Santana to open the ninth. Diaz walked Thomas, then struck out Jordan Lawlar and got Marte on a groundout to shortstop to end it.
–Field Level Media
