Gavin Stone shines as Dodgers sweep Marlins for 7th straight win

LOS ANGELES — Art collectors do not take care of their prized possessions as well as Gavin Stone has nurtured his and made it his own.

A winner of a rotation spot late in spring training, Stone is showing that his hold on the role is rock solid after another strong outing Wednesday afternoon against the Miami Marlins.

Stone gave up one run over seven innings and Teoscar Hernandez hit a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning as the Dodgers earned a 3-1 victory over the Marlins to extend their winning streak to seven games and finish off a perfect 6-0 homestand.

“Yeah, that’s a goal of mine, for sure, to get in deep into the games and help our bullpen out a little bit,” Stone said. “That just speaks on the conviction that I have on all my pitches, so just trying to keep that going.”

The Dodgers now have won 14 of their last 16 games dating to the finale of the previous homestand on April 21.

The 25-year-old Stone had just eight major league appearances and four starts before the season began but he can hang a frame around his work this season. He beat the likes of Emmet Sheehan and Michael Grove for the starting role, as well as outside candidates like Ryan Yarbrough and Kyle Hurt. He has only further distanced himself from the group.

“Confidence, conviction – I feel like that’s key for not only me, but for every pitcher and so if you pitch with conviction, more likely than not, good things will happen,” Stone said.

The perfect homestand might have showcased the Dodgers’ power-proficient offense, but Stone started it and ended it with outings that led to victories, first over the Atlanta Braves on Friday and then against the Marlins.

It was just the 15th outing of Stone’s promising career, dating to last season, and his 11th start. In his last five starts, he has given up two runs or less, including three consecutive when he went at least six innings while giving up a single run.

“He’s been very consistent with his command, conviction and confidence,” Manager Dave Roberts said.

And that was before Wednesday’s outing.

“I’ve seen way more consistency with that and as a result he has gone deeper into games,” Roberts said. “He looks like a seasoned major league pitcher. He obviously has a boyish face, but the demeanor on the mound, he’s a bulldog out there. It’s been fun to watch him gain that confidence.”

A slow-starting offense finally saved the day against Marlins left-hander Ryan Weathers as only it knows how: with a home run. The Dodgers entered with 14 home runs over their previous four games but only needed the lone blast from Hernandez to make another victory come to fruition.

In a 1-1 game in the sixth inning, with Freddie Freeman on second base after a two-out double, Hernandez hit a full-count pitch from Weathers just over the left-field wall and barely out of reach of the Marlins’ Nick Gordon.

Hernandez’s home run celebration was a bit delayed.

“Nowadays the outfielders make plays and they act like they don’t, just to see the hitters celebrate and say, ‘Oh, I have the ball,’” Hernandez said after his 10th homer moved him one off Shohei Ohtani’s MLB lead. “So I was waiting until he was getting up from the ground. After that I was celebrating.”

It was Hernandez’s third RBI on the day after a two-out rally in the first inning, when Freeman singled, went to second on a balk and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Hernandez’s single to right field made it 1-0.

The Marlins tied it with a home run from Bryan De La Cruz in the fourth inning, his eighth of the season and second in four at-bats after also hitting one Tuesday.

Stone rebounded to deliver three more scoreless innings, while a reorganized bullpen closed out another sweep. After Evan Phillips (hamstring) and Joe Kelly (shoulder) each went on the injured list during the homestand, Michael Grove pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Daniel Hudson added a scoreless ninth for his second save.

“You win and you sustain winning with starting pitching,” Roberts said. “They’re giving us a chance to win. They’re taking care of the bullpen. Today we didn’t put up a bunch of runs, but we scored just enough.

“… I think it’s one of those things where I think hitting is contagious and starting pitching is contagious. Those guys are close-knit group and they’re pushing each other, which is beneficial to all of us.”