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Splash party: Diamondbacks stroke four homers to complete NLDS sweep of Dodgers
In their first National League Division Series appearance since getting swept by the Dodgers in 2017, the upstart Diamondbacks answered back in stunningly dominant fashion.
The D-backs never trailed at any point as they swept a Dodgers team that found itself in an all-too-familiar place Wednesday night at Chase Field, left to pick up the pieces of another 100-win season that ended abruptly at the hands of their division’s runner-up.
"The L.A. Dodgers have been an unbelievable team for the past, I don’t know, X-plus-one years, and they’re the team that we beat to advance," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. "It just feels a little more special because we know how hard we’ve been working to make this day happen."
Last winter, after getting upset by the Padres in the NLDS, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts lamented how his 111-win team seemed to lack the same intensity and urgency as its opponent. The Dodgers shook up their roster this offseason, adding new veteran leaders to the mix and opening a door for rookies to contribute, hoping those moves would pay dividends in October.
Instead, they suffered an even quicker knockout against an upstart 84-win Diamondbacks team that outpitched, outslugged and outplayed them at every level to advance to the National League Championship Series for the third time in franchise history and the first time since 2007.
While the Dodgers’ moves helped them reload for another division title, it was the Diamondbacks’ prudent roster decisions that helped them move forward.
This winter, they traded for Gabriel Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who combined to knock in eight runs in the NLDS. Moreno’s home runs in Games 1 and 3 were the decisive blows. At the deadline, Arizona traded for Tommy Pham, who recorded six hits in the series, and closer Paul Sewald, who picked up saves in Games 2 and 3.
"I'm just trying to slow down the moment to enjoy it and interpret it, and just let it register a little bit, because I don't think anybody gave us a chance to be here," Lovullo said. "I don't think anybody gave us a chance to win the games that we've won against the teams that we had to play, and that's what I'm most proud of."
The Dodgers seemed to hold an obvious offensive advantage, but it was the Diamondbacks providing a nightly supply of quick attacks. After back-to-back first-inning barrages gave them early advantages in Games 1 and 2, they waited a couple innings before their Game 3 strike.
But their bite would be just as powerful, sudden and fatal, leaving another Dodgers starting pitcher stunned and wounded.
The Diamondbacks mashed four solo shots in the third inning against Lance Lynn, who surrendered more home runs than any pitcher in baseball this season and left far too many pitches over the middle of the plate as he watched a four-seamer, a cutter and two sliders all leave the yard. The Diamondbacks, who outhomered the Dodgers 9-1 and outscored them 19-6 in the series, provided the offensive punch their opponents lacked.
Lynn, Clayton Kershaw and Bobby Miller combined to allow 16 hits and 13 runs in 4.2 innings. Meanwhile, D-backs rookie Brandon Pfaadt pitched 4.1 scoreless innings on Wednesday, needing only the fourth-inning attack for support in the 4-2 win that moved them to the NLCS, where they will face either the Phillies or Braves.
It was a shocking development for a Dodgers team that won the season series against Arizona, finished 16 games up in the division, hadn’t dropped three consecutive games to the Diamondbacks since September 2017 and boasted two MVP candidates in Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, who finished a combined 1-for-21 in the series.
"It means that we’re a good baseball team," Lovullo said. "And we’ve arrived."
As difficult as it would have been to overcome their starting pitching woes, the offense the Dodgers were supposed to lean on in October hit .177 as a team and posted a .498 OPS. Meanwhile, Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte combined for eight hits in the series atop Arizona’s lineup, which received vital contributions throughout.
On Wednesday, for the second time in the series, Moreno delivered the decisive blow.
Geraldo Perdomo, Marte and Christian Walker had all already gone deep against Lynn when Moreno rounded the bases — twice. His second attempt counted. After his deep drive to right field was ruled foul, he sent the next pitch 420 feet for his second home run of the series. The 23-year-old catcher, however, was unable to finish the game after taking a foul ball off his right hand, though X-rays were negative.
The D-backs wouldn’t strike again against the Dodgers’ bullpen, which again gave its team a chance. Will Smith went 3-for-4. Kiké Hernández took advantage of a rare start against a right-hander with two hits, including an RBI single that cut the deficit to two runs in the seventh. But the stars who needed to guide the Dodgers failed to deliver, and their attempts to battle back were futile.
Diamondbacks sweep Dodgers in dominant fashion
The top three hitters in the Dodgers’ lineup — Betts, Freeman and J.D. Martinez — went 0-for-12 with the season on the line Wednesday, unable to spark the offense against another Arizona starter the Dodgers had mashed in the regular season. Betts went hitless in the NLDS and is 2-for-25 the past two postseasons. Smith and Hernández were the only two Dodgers with more than two hits in the series.
The result was another shockingly early exit for a Dodgers team that has gone to the postseason 11 straight seasons — the longest active streak of all four major professional sports leagues — with only one World Series title and five NLDS losses in that stretch, including back-to-back stunners the past two years.
"There’s some things with the format that people can dissect or whatever, but the bottom line is that the last two years we’ve got outplayed in the postseason," Roberts said. "It doesn’t matter if it was a seven-game series, we lost the first three games. For me, I’ve got to do a better job of figuring out a way to get our guys prepared for the postseason. I’ll own that."
Rowan Kavner covers the Dodgers and MLB as a whole for FOX Sports. He previously was the Dodgers' editor of digital and print publications. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
