Will Smith's Big Birthday Blast Powers Dodgers To Sweeping Win Over Diamondbacks

Freeze frame. There’s Dodgers catcher Will Smith successful his follow-through astatine nan plate, watching nan shot recreation toward nan wall Saturday.

Now, divided screen. Pull up an image of nan bobblehead nan Dodgers gave retired earlier nan game, commemorating Smith’s Game 7 World Series-winning location run. It’s a reflector image.

On his bobblehead nighttime and birthday, Smith delivered a two-run location tally successful nan eighth inning to springiness nan Dodgers a 3-2 triumph astatine Dodger Stadium complete nan Diamondbacks and unafraid a bid sweep.

Let’s get an overhead changeable of nan Hollywood sign.

It was nan Dodgers’ first clip facing a left-handed pitcher this season. The lineup changes were minimal against Diamondbacks southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez. Dodgers head Dave Roberts swapped first baseman Freddie Freeman and Smith successful nan batting order, truthful Smith deed 4th and Freeman fifth.

Santiago Espinal besides made his Dodgers debut, starting astatine 3rd base. Roberts said it wouldn’t beryllium a platoon betwixt Espinal and Max Muncy astatine third, but he wasn’t judge precisely really nan playing clip divided would play out.

Freeman had gone hitless successful nan first 2 games of nan series. But he had 3 hits successful 4 at-bats, including a double successful nan sixth inning that drove successful nan Dodgers’ first run.

Though it was a quieter violative capacity than nan 2 erstwhile games, nan Dodgers’ lineup again proved to beryllium pesky.

That effort was made imaginable by a beardown showing from nan Dodgers’ pitching staff.

Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow turned successful a value start. Holding nan Diamondbacks to 2 runs complete six innings, Glasnow’s curveball starred arsenic his putaway transportation against right-handed hitters, and two-strike sinkers kept left-handed batters disconnected balance. Glasnow recorded six strikeouts.

The Dodgers’ bullpen continued its scoreless streak for nan series, as Alex Vesia, Will Klein and Edwin Díaz unopen down nan Diamondbacks done nan past 3 innings.

Injury update

Dodgers inferior players Tommy Edman (right ankle room recovery) and Kiké Hernández (left elbow room recovery) took early batting believe connected nan section Saturday afternoon.

Roberts has said he expected Edman, connected nan 10-day injured list, will beryllium an action by astatine slightest nan extremity of May. Hernández will beryllium eligible to beryllium activated disconnected nan 60-day IL astir nan aforesaid time.

“I’d beryllium shocked if [Hernández] wasn’t fresh erstwhile that clip is up,” Roberts said. “Taking grounders, nan measurement he’s moving, nan measurement he’s throwing, catching, nan swing, shot coming disconnected nan bat. If I didn’t cognize immoderate better, I’d deliberation he was successful nan lineup tonight.”