Eduardo Rodriguez overcame an early Shohei Ohtani blast, settling in as Tim Tawa’s four-RBI performance powered the Arizona Diamondbacks to a dominant victory over the shorthanded Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen.
The Arizona Diamondbacks were blessed with news that Los Angeles Dodgers sensation Shohei Ohtani wouldn't be making his scheduled start on Friday, July 10.
In what turned out to be a bullpen game for the back-to-back World Series Champions, the Diamondbacks made sure to take advantage. Arizona, once again, improved to .500 as they took down the 61-34 Dodgers, 9-3.
Arizona scored two runs in the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, and added one in the eighth. Eduardo Rodriguez may have given up a pair of solo homers in the first inning, but he settled in quite nicely and cruised through the next five innings.
Rodriguez gave up only two Runs on his first 10 pitches
Ohtani remained in the Dodgers' lineup as the designated hitter, and it took him just three pitches to crush a 381-foot homer to left center. One batter later, Rodriguez lost a seven-pitch battle to Andy Pages, who hit a ball 419-feet to left center as well. For what it's worth, both homers came off of Rodriguez's sinker.
Manager Torey Lovullo commented, "After those two solo home runs, he got super, super stubborn, started to attack the zone and mix pitches, and did a really nice job. It's just so E-Rod. He's able to just shed it and just go back to work," according to MLB.com.
"I took the emotion out of it. I was throwing the pitches right where I wanted, and I'm gonna keep doing the rest of the game," Rodriguez said. "To give up two runs in the first and be able to go six [innings] is something that I really, really appreciate."
Lovullo pulled Rodriguez through sixth. At that point, he had thrown 87 pitches, his second lowest total in a start since Wednesday, April 29. Seeing as Rodriguez has a chance to pitch in the All-Star game, Lovullo made sure E-Rod knew that was the reason as the 33-year-old could've easily given the team a seventh inning of work.
Tim Tawa's big day
Tawa, 27, contributed to five of the team's nine runs. The Diamondbacks' ninth-place hitter hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning, but that wasn't all he did.
In a game where he hit just his second home run of the year, Tawa went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and a run. He may be hitting just .187 this season, but for whatever reason, he came to life against the Dodgers.
Both teams had nine hits in the game, but Arizona took home a comfortable six-run victory. Gabriel Moreno had a pair of RBIs himself while Geraldo Perdomo also added one.
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