Alex Wood
D-backs smash 3 homers, club Dodgers in series opener
Alex Wood

D-backs smash 3 homers, club Dodgers in series opener

Published Sep. 12, 2015 1:12 a.m. ET

PHOENIX -- Robbie Ray's run of hard luck finally came to an end Friday night when the Arizona Diamondbacks' young left-hander got the run support he had been consistently missing for more than a month.

Ray shut out the Dodgers for five innings for his first win since July 7 and first career win at home, ending a streak of 10 straight starts overall without a victory as the Diamondbacks thumped their division rivals 12-4.

Welington Castillo, Paul Goldschmidt and Nick Ahmed homered for the Diamondbacks in support of Ray (4-11). Ahmed went 4 for 4 with three RBIs, including two doubles and two runs scored. The Diamondbacks won for the third time in four games, with four pitchers combining to hold the Dodgers to four hits.

The last of the Dodgers' four hits was a grand slam by Justin Ruggiano in the top of the ninth inning with two outs.

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"It's a weight lifted off your shoulders so that you can make pitches that you need to make, that you know you can do in a 0-0 ball game, but just a little easier to do when you get that kind of run support," Ray said.

"He's pitched well enough to win a lot of games and we just don't seem to ever give him any run support," Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale said. "Tonight he got some run support."

Castillo's towering drive far over the wall in left-center gave Arizona 3-0 lead, and Chris Owings' triple drove in Phil Gosselin with the fourth run of the inning off Dodgers starter Alex Wood.

The Diamondbacks added six runs in the second. Goldschmidt made it 6-0 with a two-run shot down the left-field line. He is hitting .336 (91 for 271) with 18 home runs and 59 RBIs in 70 career games against Los Angeles.

Wood (10-10) lasted only 1 2/3 innings, allowing six earned runs and eight hits in his shortest outing since coming to the Dodgers in a trade on July 30.

The other runs in the sixth came on a two-run double by Yasmany Tomas off reliever Pedro Baez and Ahmed's two-run homer. Arizona sent nine batters to the plate in each the first two innings.

"He's been working so hard on certain fundamentals and staying on top and getting his foot down early, and it's really paying off," Hale said of Ahmed.

The Diamondbacks sent nine batters to the plate in each of the first two innings, and rookie Peter O'Brien collected his first major league hit in the sixth, an RBI single.

"Usually it's only one or two (pitches) that you don't have, not all three," Wood said. "From that standpoint, all three weren't very good. Chalk it up to just one of those nights."

The Dodgers absorbed their most lopsided loss since a 15-2 defeat to the New York Mets on July 25 and their division lead slid to 7 games over the San Francisco Giants in the NL West.

Home plate umpire Jim Wolf left the game after two innings, the result of being hit in the mask by a foul ball off Ahmed's bat. There was a delay before the start of the third inning to allow first base umpire Alan Porter to change into gear and take over behind home plate, leaving a three-man crew.

Two lines of Marines totaling 250 in all stood along the foul lines in left and right field before the game for the national anthem, and both teams wore American flag patches on their caps. A moment of silence was observed before the game in remembrance of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Dodgers: Alex Guerrero, brought in to pinch-hit in the third inning, left the game with what was announced as a left calf strain after beating out an infield single and reaching first base. He was replaced by pinch-runner Jimmy Rollins.

Diamondbacks: RHP Jeremy Hellickson was reinstated from the 15-day DL. He had been out since Aug. 20 with a strained left hamstring, and is in line to start Monday against San Diego at home.

Dodgers: RHP Mike Bolsinger makes his second big league start since July and goes against his former team, the Diamondbacks, on Saturday. Bolsinger, called up from Triple-A on Sept. 1 after spending the previous month in the minors, is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA in his last six road starts. He's 6-3 with a 2.97 ERA overall.

Diamondbacks: RHP Rubby De La Rosa is also facing his former team on Saturday. De La Rosa (12-7, 4.41 ERA) took a no-hitter into the fifth inning in his last start, Sept. 6 at the Chicago Cubs.

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