JOE RESNICK
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Arizona Diamondbacks certainly wanted to play better against the Dodgers this year, especially considering the way their season series ended in 2013.
But injuries took their toll on the Diamondbacks, who lost 15 of the 19 meetings. A 7-2 loss Sunday put an exclamation point on their collective frustration, as Los Angeles completed a three-game sweep with a pair of three-run homers by Adrian Gonzalez and a solo shot by Matt Kemp after getting held hitless by Trevor Cahill for more than five innings.
“This is a terrible series we’ve had against these guys this year,” Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. “We’ve had years where we’ve had their number, but Gonzalez and Kemp both hit our pitching good this year and did a lot of damage.”
The entire organization still harbors resentment over the way the Dodgers celebrated clinching the NL West title last season by romping around in the swimming pool at Chase Field after the obligatory clubhouse champagne ritual.
“We don’t really buy into that. For us, it’s just about winning games,” said Gonzalez, who reached 100 RBIs for the seventh time. “They’re a team that we were able to handle pretty well this year. Obviously, we have really good pitching and these guys do a really good job of preparing for their hitters.”
It was the fifth time since the start of divisional play in 1969 that the Dodgers defeated a team 15 or more times in a season. They were 16-3 against Arizona in 2004, 16-2 against San Diego in 1974, 15-2 against Atlanta in 1973 and 15-4 against Colorado in 2006.
“Sometimes you have those years when you play well against a team, and this year it’s the Diamondbacks,” said Kemp, who homered and threw out Miguel Montero at the plate to complete a double play with the bases loaded in the second inning.
Cahill (3-11) yielded three runs, two hits and four walks in 5 2-3 innings. The right-hander went 0-4 in four starts against the Dodgers this season, allowing 20 earned runs in 17 innings.
“I started out well with my sinker, but then I walked a couple of guys and I knew it eventually was going to catch up to me,” Cahill said. “Things just kind of fell apart after that. The thing that’s hurt me the most is the big inning.”
Dee Gordon slapped Cahill’s 68th pitch of the game, a slider down and away, inside the left-field line for an opposite-field double that broke up the no-hit bid with one out in the sixth. Hanley Ramirez walked on four pitches and Gonzalez smacked a 3-1 delivery over the center-field fence.
“We got behind Adrian and had to throw one over the plate,” Gibson said. “He’s had tremendous success on balls over the plate — he’s got 100 RBIs.”
Gonzalez, whose six RBIs tied a career high, made it 6-2 in the seventh against Oliver Perez with his 22nd homer. That gave the four-time All-Star 31 homers and 101 RBIs against the Diamondbacks, more than any other active player.
Kemp homered on Perez’s next pitch, and the left-hander then plunked Andre Ethier with a slider — resulting in a warning to both benches by plate umpire Scott Barry. That was followed by some extracurricular chirping by Dodgers manager Don Mattingly and ace Clayton Kershaw, leading to the ejections of both.
“I was surprised when he came out there. I think maybe it was because they had a big fight last year,” Perez said. “But I was not throwing at him.”
Zack Greinke (14-8) gave up two runs and six hits before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter during the Dodgers’ three-run sixth. The 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner is 5-0 with a 1.59 ERA in his last six starts against Arizona.
OOPS
Errors by SS Didi Gregorius and his sixth-inning replacement, Cliff Pennington, snapped the Diamondbacks’ season-best errorless streak at 10 games. The team made only two over its previous 18 games, but has 95 errors for the season — second-most in the NL and four fewer than Pittsburgh’s total.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks: Wade Miley (7-10, 4.18 ERA) makes his 100th big league start Tuesday night in San Francisco as the Diamondbacks begin a stretch of nine games in which they will face the Giants six times. Arizona trails the season series 8-5.
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