PHOENIX — After his usual round of pregame selection drills Tuesday afternoon, Freddie Freeman made the long way back to the clubhouse, going to the bat rack on the far side of the dugout first to rub his bats a few hours before the first pitch.
“I have to wake them up,” Freeman joked.
In a 6-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, the ritual seemed to work.
Freeman opened the scoring in the Dodgers’ win at Chase Field with a two-run home run in the top of the first. Shohei Ohtani doubled the lead with a triple in the next inning. Both stars contributed in another two-stage rally in round seven.
And on a night the bullpen played with fire, every bit of it was needed as the Dodgers bounced back from Monday’s series-opening loss with a narrow defeat of an in-division rival.
Despite leading 6-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Dodgers relievers nearly made things messy.
After 4 innings, starting with two innings from Eric Loyer, then scoreless outings from Blake Treinen (who escaped a fifth-inning jam with a diving assist from Ryan Ward) and Edgardo Henriquez (whose fastball velocity was 103.6 mph, the second-hardest by any pitcher in the major leagues this year), right-hander Kyle Hurt suffered his worst outing of the season, getting charged with three runs on a botched three-run walk.
The first two runs were scored on a double by Nolan Arenado (which was helped by a ball from Ward to left field). The next came after Will Kline inherited the chaos and issued a bases-loaded walk.
Coincidentally or not, the rally started right after a section of Arizona fans went #TarpsOff in the upper deck of right field.
Sadly, the Dodgers survived.
The seventh ended with a nice defensive play from Freeman, who ranged wide to his right to hit a big shot with his backhand and throw to second for the third.
Arizona put two more on board against Klein in the eighth before Arenado swung at a double play to end the inning.
The ninth inning provided another scare, as Tanner Scott allowed a runner to reach second before finally closing out the win.
But in the end, it was the Dodgers’ bats that made the difference.
As Freeman had hoped, they had been sufficiently awakened.
What does it mean
The Dodgers are now 15-4 since May 13. Among the many impressive traits of that run, their ability to pull off rare defeats still stands out.
The team has not lost in consecutive contests since a four-game skid from May 9-12.
That resiliency has helped the Dodgers (39-22) build a six-game lead in the National League West standings. They are now 6 1/2 games behind the newly promoted Dbacks (32-28).
Who’s hot?
Freeman and Ohtani, who have looked more and more like their typical selves offensively over the past few weeks.
Since an early May slump that dropped his batting average to .233 and OPS to .767, Ohtani has been the best hitter in the Dodgers lineup, entering Tuesday with a .415 average and 1.229 OPS over his last 18 games.
That continued with a 2-for-4 performance that also included an intentional walk in a two-run seventh inning, extending Ohtani’s home run to 18 games.
For Freeman, who was 3-for-5 on Tuesday, it was much the same story.
He endured a slide in mid-May that dropped his average to .254 and OPS to .737, but he has turned around and hit .348 over 13 games since May 19, a stretch that includes five home runs and 12 RBIs.
His only game where he didn’t reach base during that span: Monday night, leading into his introductory ritual on Tuesday.
Who is not
Not to continue beating a dead horse, but still Kyle Tucker.
The $240 million outfielder was hitless in three at-bats Tuesday before being pulled in the seventh round, extending a recent 3-for-26 slump over his last seven games.
“I wouldn’t say disappointed,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game of Tucker’s disappointing campaign thus far, which includes a .235 average and a .715 OPS. “I would say I’m probably just hoping there’s some traction for him and for us. He works hard. There’s a day where he seems like he’s back and he’s comfortable. Then a few days you look at him and he seems to be searching again. For me, I’m just hoping he can find something that sticks with him.”
More than two months into the season, that still hasn’t happened.
the next
Ohtani (5-2, 0.82 EA) will return to bullpen duties on Wednesday when he faces former All-Star right-hander Zac Gallen (3-4, 5.16 ERA).