PHOENIX — When the Dodgers lost Andrew Heaney to a shoulder injury in mid-April, they didn’t have to look far to find the insurance policy they had purchased in March.
A career starter, Tyler Anderson moved into the rotation after Heaney’s injury and has proven to be much more than a stopgap. Anderson held the Arizona Diamondbacks scoreless for the first six innings as the Dodgers beat the Diamondbacks 3-1 and concluded their 10-game road trip with a sweep of the four-game series at Chase Field.
The Dodgers went 8-2 on the three-city tour, taking two of three in Philadelphia and Washington before sweeping the Diamondbacks.
Sunday’s win ran Anderson’s record in his seven starts to 5-0 and his six scoreless innings give him a 20-inning scoreless streak spread over his past three starts.
Rightly viewed as the most vulnerable part of the Dodgers’ loaded roster heading into this season, the starting rotation has taken some hits (Clayton Kershaw is also out with an injury) — but allowed very few of them. With Anderson’s performance Sunday, Dodgers starters are 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA — the lowest in MLB by nearly a half-run.
Against the Diamondbacks, Anderson struck out six and walked one while allowing five hits in his six innings.
The Diamondbacks got just one runner past first base in the first four innings (a two-out double by Ketel Marte in the first inning). Alek Thomas got to third base with two outs in the fifth but Anderson struck out Josh Rojas to end that inning. An error by Trea Turner put Anderson in mild jeopardy in the sixth but he started his own inning-ending double play.
Even with Anderson’s effort, the Diamondbacks outhit the Dodgers 8-4. But the Dodgers managed to do enough damage against Diamondbacks starter Zach Davies.
They got on the board first with a Will Smith home run onto the pool deck in right field. The homer ended a 12-pitch at-bat (tied for the longest at-bat to end a home run in MLB this season) that began with two called strikes. Smith took three pitches to run the count full then fouled off six in a row before Davies left a sinker up and out over the plate.
An inning later, the Dodgers went small to add to their lead.
Gavin Lux led off with a single and Austin Barnes followed with a walk. Both of them moved up on a Mookie Betts fly out and both of them scored, first on a single to left field by Freddie Freeman then on a ground out by Trea Turner.
Turner later singled to extend his hitting streak to 21 games, the longest in MLB this season but not Turner’s longest in his 99 games with the Dodgers. He had a 27-game streak that began in 2021 and extended into the 2022 season.
The Dodgers were one out away from a shutout when David Peralta tripled off Betts’ glove to drive in a run against Craig Kimbrel. Kimbrel then struck out Cooper Hummel to end the game.
