PHOENIX (AP) — Manager Dave Roberts admits he winced a little when the Dodgers’ schedule came out and he saw a 10-game road stretch in mid-to-late May that included lengthy trips to Philadelphia, Washington and Arizona.
Nearly two weeks and eight wins later, turns out it wasn’t so bad.
Tyler Anderson threw six effective innings, Will Smith added a solo homer and Los Angeles swept a four-game series from the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 3-1 win Sunday.
“When you get three, you want to go for four and get greedy,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “It’s been a long road trip. Might as well end it on a positive note. It’s going to be good to get home — it feels like it’s been a long time.”
The Dodgers will return to California with a stellar 33-14 record that leads the NL West.
Anderson (6-0) continued his streak of great pitching, giving the Dodgers’ rotation a much-needed lift after injuries to Clayton Kershaw and Andrew Heaney. The veteran left-hander scattered five hits and has given up just two earned runs over his last 21 innings, spanning three starts that all ended in wins.
“His execution was fantastic,” Roberts said. “To be quite honest, we didn’t play good defense behind him. There’s a lot of plays we make that we didn’t make, but he didn’t bat an eye, picked us up and made pitches when he needed.”
Smith pushed the Dodgers ahead 1-0 in the second, driving the 12th pitch of the at-bat into the Chase Field swimming pool that sits just behind the right-center field wall.
The catcher’s lengthy plate appearance started with two called strikes, three balls and then six foul balls before the solo shot that was his fifth homer of the season.
The Dodgers — who won despite just four hits — added two more runs in the third on Freeman’s RBI single and Trea Turner’s RBI groundout. That was more than enough for Anderson and the bullpen, which worked through the Arizona lineup with relative ease.
“He’s been pretty incredible,” Freeman said about Anderson. “He throws strikes, he pounds the zone. That changeup, I’ve faced it, and it’s not fun, especially when he’s got the 92-93 (miles per hour) fastball working like he did today.”
David Price threw a scoreless seventh and Evan Phillips followed with a scoreless eighth. Craig Kimbrel gave up a run in the ninth but still recorded his 10th save.
It was a rough offensive series for the D-backs, who totaled eight runs over the four losses. Zach Davies (2-3) took the loss, giving up three earned runs over 5 1/3 innings.
David Peralta drove in the D-backs’ lone run with a pinch-hit triple in the ninth.
“It wasn’t an ideal series for us,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “We made a game of it in the ninth inning, some good clutch hitting by David gave us a chance to bring the tying run up to the plate. But prior to that, I thought we could have done a few more things in better fashion.”
TURNER AT 21
Turner pushed his hitting streak to 21 games with a single in the sixth. It’s the longest current hitting streak in the majors.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Diamondbacks: OF/C Daulton Varsho pinch hit in the ninth inning, which was his first appearance since Friday. He was hit in the back of the right shoulder by a pitch Friday and was scratched from Saturday’s lineup with soreness.
UP NEXT
The Dodgers return home to start a three-game series with the Pirates on Monday. Los Angeles will start RHP Walker Buehler (6-1, 2.91 ERA). Pittsburgh will start RHP Zach Thompson (2-4, 5.20).
The Diamondbacks begin a three-game series at home with the Braves on Monday. Arizona will start RHP Zac Gallen (3-0, 2.22 ERA) while Atlanta will counter with RHP Spencer Strider (1-1, 2.22).
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