Dodgers belt historic 3 leadoff home runs among 16 hits to take another game from Arizona
LA TimesFirst, the Dodgers made history. Despite consecutive home runs from Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman to lead off Saturday night — the first time in Dodgers’ history the team went deep in their first three at-bats of a game — the Dodgers had to grind out an 8-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, taking the first two games of this weekend’s pivotal divisional series to go six games up in National League West. “It’s just the fight of the guys,” Roberts said, “to give up the lead and not quit and keep fighting.” The Dodgers finally went in front for good in the ninth. A night after Clayton Kershaw’s toe injury forced an already overworked bullpen to throw eight innings in a dramatic 10-9 win, the Dodgers had just three relief arms available: Evan Phillips, the lone reliever not used Friday, and Ben Casparius and Brent Honeywell Jr., minor-league call-ups who arrived Saturday to give the bullpen some warm bodies to turn to. “So fighting this kind of adversity throughout many points throughout the year I think has been good for our guys.” Roberts echoed that same message, adamant that even though the Dodgers have regained some breathing room at the top of the division — the San Diego Padres, who are tied for Arizona in second place, also lost Saturday — they need the intensity they’ve tapped into the past two nights to remain for the rest of the season.