Fact-1: Baseball is not for the faint of heart.

Fact-2: If you strand 15 runners on base, you’re probably not going to win.

On Tuesday night, the Dodgers tested their fans to the extreme on Fact-1 and overcame Fact-2 by pulling off a thrilling come-from-behind 10-9 win over the NL West last-place Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field; this despite leaving what SportsNet LA’s Alanna Rizzo called “leaving a village on base.”

“I thought offensively, to get guys on base, you still have to have good at-bats to leave ’em on,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters after the game in a clear attempt to have the ends justify the means. “Yeah, push ’em across certainly is something, but I thought offensively we did a nice job.”

That nice job was due in no small part to Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux, who hit two home runs on the night, his first two of the COVID-19-shortened season. Lux’s second round-tripper ended up being the eventual game-winner on a monster shot to (very) deep right-center field in the top half of the tenth inning to turn a 6-6 tie into a 10-6 lead in the eventual 10-9 Dodgers win.

“Any time you help the team win it’s always good,” Lux said after the game. “Just going up there, looking to have a good at-bat, trying to help any way I can. I got a pretty good pitch to hit.”

“With Gavin, I think he’s just playing free and easy,” Roberts said of a suddenly red-hot Lux after his two-home-run night. “Everyone knew it was in there. Sometimes it just takes a little time to get your feet underneath you.”

With the win, the Dodgers maintained their 4.5-game lead over the San Diego Padres in the NL West. They also reduced their Magic Number to 13 to win the division.

Play Ball!

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