Will Smith hit a three-run homer in the late innings, Shohei Ohtani added his 43rd home run of the season, and the Los Angeles Dodgers extended their NL West lead to five games with a 10-9 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.
Arizona’s strong finish to the season set up an important four-game series with a lively crowd at Chase Field, which had seen the Diamondbacks win last year’s NL Division Series.
The sold-out stadium witnessed an exciting game with 10 combined runs in the first three innings, a big toe injury that forced Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw out of the game, a run scored due to a disengagement violation, and a four-run rally in the ninth inning that fell short.
“Kind of fitting to start the series off like this with a lot of electricity in the crowd,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said.
Freeman made an impact early with a two-run homer in the first inning after missing three games to rest a fractured right middle finger. Smith gave the Dodgers a 9-5 lead in the seventh with his three-run homer that barely cleared the left-field wall.
Ohtani hit a solo homer in the eighth inning, doubled, and stole base No. 43 after going 0 for 5 against Baltimore on Thursday.
“I feel like everyone was just giving their best and not complaining about anything, just trying to go out there and get the W,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said.
The game was still challenging.
Arizona’s Jake McCarthy hit a two-run single in the ninth, and Eugenio Suarez followed with a two-run homer to make it 10-9. Anthony Banda got the final two outs to secure the win.
Corbin Carroll also homered for Arizona, which fell into a tie with San Diego for the top NL wild-card spot.
“Down 10-5, the easy thing to do would be to give up and move on to tomorrow,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “But this is a hungry team that wants to win games and knows the importance of each pitch, each inning.”
