Credit goes all around for a stellar Dodger roadtrip
by Cary Osborne
The Dodgers will return to Los Angeles after an 8–0 win on Wednesday over the Diamondbacks and their longest roadtrip of the season a changed team.
They won all three series and finished 7–2, now putting them at 20–13.
“You look back 11 days ago and we’re in a tough spot,” said manager Dave Roberts. “We weren’t playing good baseball. To go on the road with an East Coast trip, to go north of the border, and then come back here and play a division rival and end up 7–2, it was a nice feat. A lot of good baseball.”
The how have they changed has numerous answers. One was on the mound on Wednesday and three more were in the field.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto has continued his ascent since a difficult Major League debut on March 21 in South Korea and for the second time on the trip finished with no runs allowed over six innings.
He shut the Diamondbacks out over six innings, allowing five hits and two walks, striking out five. Yamamoto’s combined numbers over his last two starts (including his start last Thursday in Washington): 12 IP, 10 H, 3 BB, 13 Ks, 0 R.
“I think I’m being able to keep myself very calm and that’s one of the biggest reasons I’m being able to execute my pitches,” Yamamoto said.
Dodger starting pitchers had a 2.45 ERA on the trip, allowing 13 earned runs in 47 2/3 innings.
Dodger pitchers didn’t allow more than four runs in any game.
The Dodger offense scored 53 runs.
Rookie outfielder Andy Pages started things on Wednesday with a two-run home run off Arizona starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery, igniting a five-run inning.
Pages has emerged as an impact player on the trip and is part of a trio of players who made the most of their increased playing time and have given the Dodgers more consistency in the second half of the lineup.
Pages started all nine games. Kiké Hernández and Miguel Rojas started six of the games.
Pages made his Major League debut on April 16 and neither Hernández nor Rojas started more than half of the Dodgers’ first 24 games this season.
That trio combined to bat .333 with a .386 on-base percentage in their starts on the roadtrip.
Hernández walked three times from the five spot on Wednesday and was 7-for-21 with four walks in his six starts.
Rojas went 2-for-4 with a walk from the seven spot on Wednesday and was 7-for-20 with three walks in his six starts.
Pages is riding an eight-game hitting streak and is 12-for-33 with five extra-base hits and seven RBI in that span.
Layer that on top of the consistency of Mookie Betts and Will Smith at the top of the lineup.
Betts went 3-for-5 with two RBI. He had five multi-hit games on the roadtrip and a .512 on-base percentage.
Smith hit a solo home run off Montgomery in the third inning. He has hit safely in five straight games and is hitting .429/.438/.893/1.331 in that span.
Layer on the bullpen, which added three shutout innings on Wednesday. Dodger relievers had a 1.11 ERA on the trip.
Now the team will change a little more on the homestand:
