PHOENIX (AP) — Paul Goldschmidt might be in line for a day off on Sunday.
The Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star first baseman struck out three times against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and starter Shelby Miller lost his 12th game of the season as the NL West leaders beat Arizona 6-2 on Saturday.
Rookie Brock Stewart pitched five effective innings and the Dodgers bullpen took over from there with four innings of one-hit ball and seven strikeouts.
The Dodgers ended the day with a five-game division lead over San Francisco, which lost its game.
Joc Pederson hit a two-run homer, his seventh in 13 games against Arizona this season. He lined a 3-2 pitch from Miller (2-12) well over the pool in right field at Chase Field in a three-run fourth.
Stewart (2-2) beat the Diamondbacks on Sept. 7 at Dodger Stadium for his first big league win. He earned another victory, giving up two runs and five while striking out six and walking one.
Goldschmidt is 1 for 12 and has struck out seven times in the first three games of the four against the Dodgers.
“He’s in a little bit of a rut. That’s part of baseball,” Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale said of Goldschmidt. “One hundred sixty-two games and he plays probably 158 of them, there’s going to be some clunkers in there. So the last couple of games he hasn’t swung it well but any moment he can break out and carry us.”
Hale said he’ll consider giving Goldschmidt Sunday’s game off.
Corey Seager tripled and scored on Justin Turner’s sacrifice fly in the Dodgers first.
Jean Segura homered in the bottom half to tie it. He has three leadoff homers in the past five games and 17 on the season.
With two on and none out in the fourth, Diamondbacks catcher Welington Castillo retrieved a pitch that got away and tried to throw out Adrian Gonzalez at third, but the toss sailed into left field and let a run score.
Pederson followed with his 23rd home run of the season.
Chase Utley doubled twice for the Dodgers.
Miller allowed four runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings and hasn’t won in the majors since June 20.
“You go in there and you try to put up zeroes and just give your offense a chance to win the game,” Miller said. “You get in binds when you’re giving up four runs a game and it’s tough to kind of get on a roll. Not only for myself but for the offense to come out of that hole.”
Castillo homered in the fourth. The Diamondbacks almost scored more, but Dodgers left fielder Andrew Toles threw out Yasmany Tomas at the plate.
“It started with Brock. To give up that leadoff home run but to still bounce back, give us five innings and giving us a chance to win says a lot about him,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I liked the defense. It was just a well played baseball game. The quality of the at-bats up and down the lineup continues to get better.”
CATCHER CALLUP
The Diamondbacks brought up catcher Oscar Hernandez from Double-A Mobile before the game. He had gone home to Venezuela after his minor league season ended.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Diamondbacks: Pitcher Rubby De La Rosa might not be shut down from major league games for the rest of the season. Hale said De La Rosa needs to show good velocity in simulated games before he can return. … OF A.J. Pollock, out with a groin injury for the past week, could return to action in the final week of the season when the team is in Washington. Arizona’s last road series is Sept. 26-29 at the
Nationals.
UP NEXT
Dodgers: RHP Jose De Leon (2-0) is set for the third start of his major league career. He has 12 strikeouts and two walks in his first two starts.
Diamondbacks: RHP Robbie Ray (8-13) faces the Dodgers Sunday. He’s 3-3 in seven career starts against LA.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.