The Los Angeles Dodgers snapped a three-game losing streak on Wednesday by defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-3, to split a two-game series at Dodger Stadium.
Alex Wood made his eighth start of the season and ran into some early trouble in the first inning. He allowed an inside-the-park home run to Nick Ahmed — the second batter he faced — but settled down from there with four scoreless frames over the remainder of his outing.
All-in-all, Wood logged five innings of one-run ball and yielded five hits while recording four strikeouts. Afterward, he complimented the Diamondbacks’ offensive juggernaut and compared it to the Dodgers’ lineup, via J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group:
“Their lineup reminds me a lot of ours,” Wood said. “A lot of slug throughout their lineup, a lot of on-base guys throughout their lineup. So you fall behind, and it’s not like you can just go and split halves of the plate and try to throw a decent pitch. If you leave it over the plate they’re going to hit it. When you fall behind you have to keep battling, battling, trying to make quality pitches to limit that damage.
As Wood points out, the Diamondbacks — at least on paper — have one of the more fearsome lineups in the National League with similar qualities to the Dodgers’ offensive corps.
Both clubs feature an excellent blend of players that specialize in on-base skills, as well as some of the best power bats in all of baseball.
A.J. Pollock has emerged as a legitimate MVP candidate while Paul Goldschmidt and Steven Souza Jr., 30-home run threats, are still looking to hit their stride.
The Dodgers returned the majority of their World Series core while adding Matt Kemp over the offseason, who has thrived in his second stint with the club. Yasmani Grandal is in the midst of a breakout campaign while Justin Turner is expected to be activated from the disabled list in the near future.
