Diamondbacks shake off Ohtani’s leadoff homer to rout the Dodgers 9-3

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eduardo Rodríguez shook off Shohei Ohtani’s leadoff homer to throw six solid innings, Tim Tawa homered and drove in four runs and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-3 on Friday night.

Rodríguez (8-3) didn’t allow another run after giving up back-to-back homers to Ohtani and Andy Pages to start the game.

Gabriel Moreno had two RBIs to help Arizona to its first win at Dodger Stadium in four tries this season.

Ohtani had been scheduled to pitch, but the Dodgers went with a bullpen game instead as the Japanese two-way star has been dealing with left knee inflammation for at least a month. Ohtani will have his left knee drained on Sunday, and the procedure will force him to miss next week’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia, but Ohtani will continue to start at designated hitter for the three-game series against the Diamondbacks.

Ohtani cracked a 381-foot homer to left center on the third pitch he saw. It was his eighth leadoff homer, tying Nationals slugger James Wood for the National League lead.

Arizona took control when Tawa hit his second homer of the season off a fastball in the fourth inning before adding two more runs in each of the next two frames.

Diamondbacks center fielder Ryan Waldschmidt left in the sixth inning with a right thumb contusion after being hit on the hand by a pitch trying to lay down a bunt, manager Torey Lovullo said. X-rays came back negative for Waldschmidt, Arizona’s top prospect who had been recalled from Triple-A Reno earlier Friday.

Will Klein (3-4) took the loss, one of seven Dodgers pitchers used.

Up next

Arizona RHP Brandon Pfaadt (2-1, 4.84 ERA) was set to oppose Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (9-5, 2.49) on Saturday night.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb