Wild Six Run Fourth Frame, Leads Dodgers To 9-5 Win Over Snakes

Boy the Dbacks are horrendous. Thank god because the Dodger pitching tonight was not sharp at all. Good thing the Dodgers scored nine runs. No matter how off the pitching is, you’ll normally win most of the games you score nine runs in anyways. Here’s to hoping the Dodger offense has many more nine run games in them this season. The Dodger bats exploded in the desert for nine runs on fourteen hits in their 9-5 win over the Dbacks on Wednesday night.

The Dodgers have built their success this season on beating their NL west foes. Coming into Tuesday night’s game at Arizona, the Dodgers were 34-19 versus the Western division. They also play and hit very well at Chase Field. They always have. There are three Dodgers that do a lot of damage in Arizona.

Dodgers  9 14 0

Dbacks     5 9 1

WP-Hernandez-8-9

LP-Cahill-3-9

HR-Kemp-16

Here is how Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez, and Matt Kemp hit in Arizona

Gonzalez – .342 20 HR 1.017 OPS

Hanley – .356 5 HR .980 OPS

Kemp – .286 10 HR .817 OPS

Those three musketeers and the rest of the Dodger lineup led a fierce attack on the Arizona pitching staff during their 9-5 win in the opening game of their two game series. The Dodgers had a six-run fourth inning that proved disastrous for the Dbacks as the Dodgers never relinquished the lead after that wild inning.

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

For the first three innings it was a 2-2 tie as both starters struggled with their command. Roberto Hernandez was anything but sharp, but all of the offensive support gave him room to breathe. Of course without their star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt the Snake’s offense is a lot less potent.

Hernandez struggled to stay ahead of hitters most of the night. While he only walked two, he was constantly  behind in counts. Hernandez did settle down to throw six innings and he allowed three earned runs on six hits and whiffed three. But he was far from impressive.

However it was good enough on this night, thanks to a nine run fourteen hit attack from the Dodgers. The Dodgers scored two runs in the top of the first. The Snakes inability to turn a double play cost them two runs. Puig had walked, and Gonzalez’s grounder to second should have been a double play, but Arizona shortstop Didi Gregorius dropped the ball in the act of throwing. The Dbacks could only get a force out. That play would prove costly as Kemp would launch a two-run home run into the left field seats to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.

The Dbacks struck back for two runs in the bottom of the second. Alfredo Marte is hit by a pitch, and after a Jake Lamb whiff, Gregorius singles. Cahill’s sacrifice moves him to second, and Ender Inciarte’s two-run single plated two to tie the game at 2-2. Inciarte was the Snake’s offensive star of the night. He went 2 for 5 with three runs driven in.

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

But the Dodger’s six-run fourth inning would knock familiar foe, and Arizona  starter Trevor Cahill out of the box. The Dodgers have hit him hard this year, despite the right hander being 6-2 against the Dodgers before Tuesday night.

The Dodgers used five consecutive singles, three walks, a sacrifice fly, and two replay reviews to score their six runs knocking Cahill from the game. The inning started with back to back walks to Kemp and Gonzalez. After Hanley whiffed, Crawford’s RBI single scored Kemp to give the Dodgers the 3-2 lead.

The play in question, notice Montero’s glove does not have the ball in it-Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Then Turner, who continues to swing a hot bat, singled to center to score Kemp and put the Dodgers up 4-2. A.J. Ellis singles to center as well, and then there is a controversial play at the plate. It appeared that Crawford was thrown out at the plate on A.J.’s single, on a strong throw from Inciarte. The original call on the field from home plate umpire Will Little was that he was out. But after the Dodgers reviewed the play we discovered that Snake’s catcher Miguel Montero tagged Crawford with an empty glove. He was holding the ball in his bare hand while he made the tag with his glove. Crawford (Who ran through a stop sign from third base coach Lorenzo Bundy) is ruled safe, and the call is overturned by the New York office,  and Montero is given a missed catch error on the play.

Fourth innning Review number 1

The inning continued with another replay review. This time it was on a bunt single from Hernandez that bounced past the mound. Turner scored to put the Dodgers up 6-2. Then Gordon singled in Ellis and the Dodgers lead 7-2. Cahill is finally hooked and in comes Randall Delgado. After Puig walks, Gonzalez’s sacrifice fly scores Hernandez to make the score 8-2 Dodgers. Finally Kemp grounds out to mercifully end the inning for Arizona.

Fourth inning Review number 2

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Dodgers would add one more run in the seventh inning. Hanley and Crawford singled, and Turner’s second RBI single of the night would score Hanley to make the score 9-3 Dodgers. The Dodgers would have had another run, but they had a runner thrown out at the plate.

Every single Dodger had at least one hit, except for the slumping Puig, who went 0 for 3. Gordon had three hits, Kemp, Crawford, Turner, and A.J. all had two hits, and Kemp, and Turner had two RBI apiece.

The Dbacks would score a run in the eighth and ninth innings, but J.P. Howell, Brandon League, Jamey Wright, and Pedro Baez would pitch the rest of the game to secure the win.

The Dodgers are now 75-58, and remain five games ahead of the Giants who won their game against Colorado.

The short two game set concludes on Wednesday night as Clayton Kershaw will go for win number 16. Arizona will counter with left hander Wade Miley at 6:40 PM.