Major League Baseball

Dodgers' Puig has big night with bat, scores winning run vs. D-backs

Published Jun. 11, 2015 2:10 a.m. ET

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Yasiel Puig is back and he's brought his powerful bat with him.

Puig went 4 for 4 with a three-run homer and scored the game-winning run after drawing a walk in the bottom of the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Arizona 7-6 Wednesday night for their seventh consecutive victory over the Diamondbacks.

Puig tied a career high for hits on his perfect night at the plate and finished a triple shy of the cycle. He's hit safely in all four games since coming off the disabled list last Saturday, with the Dodgers winning four of five in his return.

"The cycle doesn't matter to me. What I was trying to do is get on base," Puig said through a translator. "Everyone has got to do their job with their at-bats."

Puig missed more than a month with a strained left hamstring that has resulted in him running the bases more carefully.

"I was bored," he said about his time away, and joked: "I wanted to see if they'd put a video game in the dugout for me."

Daniel Hudson (1-2) issued consecutive one-out walks to Puig and Adrian Gonzalez in the ninth before giving up Howie Kendrick's bloop single to right field, allowing the Dodgers to finish a three-game sweep. Kendrick drove in all three Dodgers runs Tuesday night.

"It's tough to fill the shoes of a guy like that when he can do so much," Kendrick said of Puig. "He's got speed and if he's in scoring position, he's going to try to score."

Yasmani Grandal had a solo homer for the Dodgers, who have defeated the Diamondbacks nine straight times at home. The latest win gave Los Angeles three consecutive home series sweeps over Arizona dating to last year.

Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen (1-0) blew a save chance for the first time this season, giving up A.J. Pollock's career high-tying eighth homer leading off the ninth.

"He's a tough at-bat," Pollock said. "Sometimes you overswing against a guy like that because he's a big guy who throws hard. He also throws a cutter, so I think I had a good plan there. I was just fortunate enough to get him over the plate."

Los Angeles' four-run lead was cut to 5-4 on consecutive homers by Paul Goldschmidt, whose two-run shot was his 100th career homer, and Yasmany Tomas in the fifth off starter Brett Anderson. The Diamondbacks have lost four in a row, and seven of their last nine on the road.

"They've got big hearts," Arizona manager Chip Hale said. "They could have easily cashed it in there, down 5-1 and not having a whole lot of success in this ballpark. We hit a lot of balls hard, but the Dodgers made a lot of nice plays to get outs on us. But I think we played our tails off."

Kike Hernandez's sacrifice fly extended the Dodgers' lead to 6-4 in the sixth. Chris Owings hit a sacrifice fly for Arizona in the seventh.

Puig homered in the second on the first pitch from starter Jeremy Hellickson, giving Los Angeles a 4-1 lead.

Grandal hit a high-arcing homer in the third that a fan in the front row of the right-field pavilion caught one-handed, extending the cushion to 5-1.

The Dodgers backed Anderson with some solid defensive plays. Rookie center fielder Joc Pederson got his glove over the wall to rob Tomas of a homer with two runners on in the third. Third baseman Alberto Callaspo backhanded a liner for the final out of the fourth.

Hellickson gave up five runs and six hits in 3 2-3 innings.

STREAKS SNAPPED

The run Jansen allowed ended a streak of eight scoreless innings to start the season and 17 straight innings without permitting a run dating to Sept. 5, 2014. He had converted all seven save chances this year and 12 in a row dating to last season.

GOLDY'S HOMER

Goldschmidt moved into sole possession of sixth place on the Diamondbacks' career home run list, breaking a tie with Matt Williams. Goldschmidt is batting .418 with five doubles, seven homers and 17 RBIs in his last 20 games since May 21.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Dodgers: 3B Justin Turner didn't play for the second straight game after fouling a pitch off his left kneecap in the series opener Monday. He was doing better Wednesday, and will get more rest on the off day Thursday. ... The goal for LF Scott Van Slyke, who hasn't played since May 30 because of a back injury, is to become pain-free in order to begin a minor league rehab assignment. ... Juan Nicasio exited with a cracked nail on his middle finger.

UP NEXT

Diamondbacks: Chase Anderson (1-1, 3.12 ERA) starts the series opener Friday at San Francisco after an off day Thursday. He has allowed no more than one run in five of his last seven starts. He has never faced the Giants.

Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw (5-3, 3.36) starts the series opener Friday at San Diego after the team's only off day of the month on Thursday. In his last outing against St. Louis, the left-hander allowed one hit in eight scoreless innings to earn his third straight win.