Dodgers beat Diamondbacks with rare strikeout-free effort

PHOENIX — Heading to Arizona this week, the Dodgers insisted this was no grudge match or a chance to exorcise the memory of last fall’s shocking NLDS sweep at the hands of the Diamondbacks.

But they did face down a couple early-season nemeses – hitting with the bases loaded and strikeouts.

The Dodgers entered the game 4 for 27 (.148) with the bases loaded this season but got a pair of two-run doubles with the bases loaded from Teoscar Hernandez and Andy Pages on their way to an 8-4 victory over the Diamondbacks on Monday.

Thirteen of those first 27 bases-loaded at-bats ended in strikeouts, part of a K spree that had the Dodgers leading the National League in strikeouts through the season’s first weeks.

But they sent 44 players to the plate Monday and none of them struck out. It was the first strikeout-free game by Dodgers hitters since August 28, 2006, the first by any MLB team this season and the most plate appearances without a strikeout by any MLB team since the Cleveland Guardians sent 46 to the plate without striking out on July 28, 2017.

“Is that what we did?” Freddie Freeman said when asked about the feat after the game.

“I’d say that’s very difficult. In today’s game? We faced a lot of different pitchers, with the kind of stuff they have, to not strike out? Didn’t know that. That’s pretty cool.”

None of the Dodgers knew it – except Kiké Hernandez who noticed the “K Counter” in right field at Chase Field where they total strikeouts by Diamondbacks pitchers was blank.

“I didn’t notice until the ninth inning,” Kiké Hernandez said. “I thought the team just kind of gave up on the game and removed all the Ks. It was the ninth inning, when we got the first out, and I pointed at Pages to tell each other one out. And it was in the same point of view. I was like, ‘What the (heck)? No Ks?’

“We finished the game, we got in the huddle in the outfield, and I was like, ‘I think we didn’t strike out tonight.’ And in the (handshake) line I asked Rob (hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc), ‘Did we not strike out?’ And he goes, ‘No.’ I was like, that’s pretty (expletive) cool.’”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he didn’t notice the strikeout-free zone his lineup became until after the game. But it’s a product of a renewed commitment at the plate, he said.

“Half of your at-bats come with two strikes in the big leagues,” Roberts said. “So there’s got to be a definitive two-strike approach. And you’ve got to have some bat-to-ball. And you’ve got to value that. And our guys do. They’re showing it. And it’s good to see some results too.

“When you value moving the ball forward, you see the ball a little bit longer, you can take some borderline pitches, you earn pitches in the strike zone that you can do some things with. And if they don’t throw it over the plate, you take your base. So I just like the way that we’re getting hits, and not just going for slug.”

Kiké Hernandez started the scoring for the Dodgers’ with an RBI double in the second inning. Pages followed with a sacrifice fly on one of those two-strike situations.

Teoscar Hernandez was down 1-and-2 with the bases loaded in the fourth inning when he bounced a ball into the Chase Field pool for a two-run ground rule double.

“I just tried to not do too much,” said Teoscar Hernandez, who was 1 for 7 with four strikeouts in bases-loaded situations before that at-bat. “I know I’m the one that’s been missing a lot of at-bats with men in scoring position, especially bases loaded. I was trying to do too much more and score a lot of runs with one swing. In that situation, I tried to put the ball in play and get at least one and I got the double.”

The bases were loaded again when Pages came up three batters later. He ripped the first pitch he saw down the third-base line for another two-run double that made it 6-1 before James Paxton’s ongoing command issues tightened the gap.

Over his 11-year big-league career, Paxton has a walk rate of 2.9 per nine innings. But this year, he has walked 22 in 25⅔ innings including five in five innings against the Diamondbacks. Three of those walks came around to score runs and the Dodgers’ lead shrank to two runs, 6-4, after five innings.

“I don’t have a lot of feel for things right now,” said Paxton in a post-start refrain that has become familiar.

“It’s real frustrating. It’s not fun out there right now. I’m really having to work hard and grind at it but I’m not going to quit. I’m going to keep grinding at it and hope it will click.”

The Dodgers kept scoring and the Diamondbacks did not.

Will Smith added a solo home run in the seventh and Ohtani had an RBI single in the eighth.

Meanwhile, the relief relay of Daniel Hudson, Joe Kelly, Alex Vesia and Evan Phillips held the Diamondbacks to one hit over four scoreless innings, closing out the Dodgers’ seventh win in their past eight games.

“We’re sticking to our approach,” Max Muncy said. “It’s part of baseball, you know? When you’re going bad, teams are doing a good job of getting you out of your approach. That’s their job. Our job is to find a way to stay within it.

“It’s just one of those things where it’s their job to get us out of it. It’s our job to stay in it. This past week, we’ve been staying in it.”

Teo clutch! pic.twitter.com/gILleDNvXE

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 30, 2024

Kiké Hernández knocks in Teoscar Hernández #LetsGoDodgers pic.twitter.com/bRcIBgFYSR

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 30, 2024

Will Smith crushes one to center! pic.twitter.com/peSCDQVEPD

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 30, 2024