*Photo from the Los Angeles Times*
27 months ago, Steven Souza Jr was carted off the field at Chase Field, leaving the rest of his career and his life future in doubt. Now, as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, he made another good memory in Arizona. Souza homered, Mookie Betts hit a sac fly, and the Dodgers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-0 on Friday night.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said "I’ve followed Steven for years and always admired the way he played from the other side. The injury bug has certainly got him, and especially here, there have been a couple of things that I really remember. So, for him to come back here and hit a homer, a go-ahead homer, a game-winning homer, I just can’t even imagine the emotion for him and his family. I’m really excited he’s part of the organization."
The Dodgers picked up all of their runs in the 8th inning. Souza hit a solo homer to left field, giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. Later, Betts hit a sac fly that scored Gavin Lux, increasing the Dodgers lead to 2-1. Later, Andy Burnes scored to make it 3-0 Dodgers, which was enough.
Trevor Bauer put together a fantastic outing for the Dodgers, allowing 3 hits and walking 3 batters, while racking up 8 strikeouts over 7 shutout innings pitched. Jimmy Nelson then threw a shutout 8th inning, and Kenley Jansen picked up his 17th save of the year with a shutout 9th inning.
Bauer said "It's always a cat-and-mouse game. Last year, we never really got to the point in the season where hitters were making adjustments and game-planning. But this year, obviously, we're going to get there. I’m mixing in more two-seams and mixing in more changeups, so it’s harder to game-plan against me and harder to zero in on what exactly I’m doing."
Joe Mantiply got the loss for the D-Backs, not recording a single out in his appearance in the top of the 8th inning, while allowing all 3 runs scored by the Dodgers. Caleb Smith threw 6 shutout innings in his start, allowing one hit and 4 walks, while striking out 5 hitters. Noe Ramirez, Stefan Chrichton, and Joakim Soria also pitched.
Torey Lovullo said of another loss in a struggling season that "I'm pissed. I don't like it. We've got to find a way out of it. We've got to go out and execute and do the things we're supposed to do the way we know how to do them and get the job done and win a baseball game. That's it."
The Dodgers and D-Backs continue their series tonight, with Matt Peacock getting the start for Arizona, and Walker Buehler starting for Los Angeles.
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