It took 10 innings and three hours, but manager Dave (“Doc”) Roberts‘ National League West first-place Dodgers finally beat the NL West fourth-place Arizona Diamondbacks by a score of 4-3 to snap his team’s four-game losing streak

“Yeah, Yoshi was fantastic, we needed every bit of it,” Roberts said postgame, referring to 26-year-old Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was indeed fantastic. “Certainly, we’ve pushed him more that we have all year and he earned that opportunity. I thought tonight, he was just getting ahead of hitters all night long, the split, the curveball came into play today, and that’s a very tough lineup to navigate and he just competed his tail off, and going seven innings set us up,” Doc added.

As for that 10th-inning game-winning run, it came on a two-out sacrifice fly to center courtesy of Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy, this after D-backs right-hander Shelby Miller surrendered a lead off double to Dodgers center fielder Tommy Edman scoring placed-runner Kiké Hernández from second to tie the game at 3-3. This was followed by two hit batsman by Miller, who then intentionally walked Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman to load the bases after a huge stolen base of second by Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani.

Oops.

On a 2-1 count, Muncy the roped Miller’s 96-MPH four-seam fastball to center, allowing Ohtani to tag up and easily score the game-winner.

“It was huge. I think most important for us was seeing Yama, you know, go as deep as he did,” Muncy told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson postgame. “We really needed that, he was unbelievable tonight,” the humble Dodgers third baseman added.

With the win, the Dodgers held on to their 1.0-game lead in the NL West.

Just what the Doc(tor) ordered.

Play Ball!

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