PHOENIX — The Los Angeles Dodgers are developing an important skill early on this season: Scoring runs with two outs in an inning.
In a 5-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday, all of the Dodgers’ runs came in such situations, giving the team just enough breathing room to survive some late-game scrambling in the bullpen.
Chris Taylor opened the scoring with an RBI single in the second. The Dodgers extended their lead in the third on an Arizona error and J.D. Martinez double.
James Outman added a two-out knock of his own in the sixth, part of a two-hit performance that extended his season-opening on-base streak to six games.
Then Freddie Freeman hit his first home run of the season in the seventh, opening up a 5-1 lead after Dustin May’s six-inning, one-run gem.
“I think it’s just a bunch of grinders,” Freeman said, with the Dodgers’ 23 two-out runs leading the majors through the first week of the season. “Guys who grind out at-bats, don’t take pitches off.”
The end of the game, however, became something of a grind, as well, after Roberts got word earlier in the night right-hander Brusdar Graterol’s back had tightened up on him.
With Graterol down, the seventh inning went to Alex Vesia and Yency Almonte. Vesia gave up one run, cutting the lead to three. Then Almonte almost yielded a tying home run to Josh Rojas, watching his fly ball sail just foul before finally ending the inning.
Because the Dodgers wanted to save their best reliever, Evan Phillips, for the ninth, Phil Bickford was summoned to face the heart of Arizona’s order in the eighth. He gave up a leadoff double and threw a wild pitch, but settled down from there, showing increased fastball velocity of 96-97 mph to escape the inning and effectively end the game.
“That’s as good of an outing as I’ve seen from Phil in quite some time,” Roberts said. “For me, Dustin and Phil were the two stars of the night.”
And when coupled with their two-out hitting, it lifted the team to a third straight win.
—Injury updates
Miguel Vargas (thumb) has been swinging and throwing with only limited soreness, and is on track to be back in the lineup as soon as Friday. Miguel Rojas (groin) isn’t far behind, although Roberts acknowledged the Dodgers’ lack of shortstop depth makes his situation “a little more tricky” as they try to be cautious with his recovery.
