First, the Dodgers made history. Then, they had to make sure it didn’t go to waste.
Despite consecutive home runs from Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman to lead off Saturday night — the first time in Dodgers’ history the team went deep in their first three at-bats of a game — the Dodgers had to grind out an 8-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, taking the first two games of this weekend’s pivotal divisional series to go six games up in National League West.
“Tonight, man, a lot going on, a lot to unpack,” manager Dave Roberts said on a night he had only three available relievers and used all four position players on his bench. “Lot of grit, fight, from both teams. Those guys gave us all we could handle.”
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The Dodgers, however, absorbed every counter-punch, surviving a game in which they had only three available relievers and blew leads on three occasions to take their largest lead in the division in more than a month.
“Winning games like this down the stretch, it’s just like a preparation for what we’re going to be facing in the playoffs,” shortstop Miguel Rojas said. “Hopefully we run away with the division in September. But at the same time, I want this team to kind of face these games. This way, we’ll know how to win these one-run games, tight games … This is really important for us to have.”
Saturday was not a masterpiece performance by any stretch.
The night started with a high, as the Dodgers’ Big 3 hitters one-upped each other in a feat never before completed in the club’s 141-year history.
Ohtani hit his 44th of the season to straightaway center field, continuing his pursuit of the first 50 homer-50 steal season in MLB history.
Betts followed two pitches later with a blast to left, his 14th of the year and fourth since returning from a broken hand earlier this month.
Freeman completed the historic trifecta with a line drive to right.
“You’re on a high,” Roberts said of the sequence. “You feel good.”
But then,…