Dodgers offense breaks through in seventh inning for 5-2 defeat of Diamondbacks

From his place in the Dodgers on-deck circle, Enrique Hernandez studied the pattern. Fastball, fastball, fastball, three in a row, all from Diamondbacks reliever Randall Delgado to Justin Turner.

“Teams pitch him similar to the way they pitch me,� Hernandez said, so he expected to face a steady supply of heat.

After Turner cut a two-run, seventh-inning deficit in half with an RBI single, Delgado did not deviate from his fastball formula. The scouting by Hernandez paid off. He roped a two-run double for the go-ahead strike in a five-run rally that carried his team to a 5-2 victory.

The flurry allowed the Dodgers (6-4) to capture a series from Arizona and sustain momentum heading into a weekend clash with San Francisco. Clayton Kershaw will duel with Madison Bumgarner on Friday for the second time in seven days.

The Dodgers dropped three of four to the Giants last weekend at AT&T Park, and looked on the verge of falling twice in three games to the Diamondbacks. Then came the seventh, when the hitters chased Arizona left-hander Robbie Ray from the game and blitzed the relievers who replaced him.

“That was a lot of good things that inning,� Manager Dave Roberts said.

After Hernandez’s double, Delgado left the game, but Arizona’s misfortune continued. Yasiel Puig rolled a run-scoring single to right off new reliever Andrew Chafin and advanced to second on the throw home. He scored on Adrian Gonzalez’s subsequent single. The rally removed a potential loss from Ross Stripling’s ledger.

In his second major league start, Stripling gave up two runs in six innings. He struck out five and walked one. He delivered a credible follow-up to his headline-grabbing debut.

Stripling transformed himself from a public afterthought to the team’s fifth starter with his performance in spring training. His first outing ignited a national debate, after Roberts elected to remove Stripling with two outs in the eighth inning of a no-hit bid. Roberts cited Stripling’s fatigue and his pitch count of 100. Roberts played coy about the length of Stripling’s leash on Thursday afternoon. The team did not have a strict limit on him, he insisted.

“If I did,� Roberts said, “I wouldn’t tell you.�

The first at-bat of the game removed any drama. Diamondbacks infielder Jean Segura rolled a 93-mph fastball up the middle and into center field. Roberts was spared the tension of a repeat performance. Instead, he got a chance to enjoy Stripling’s work.

“I didn’t want to put that pressure on him again,� Stripling joked. “That was my thought process, for sure.�

Stripling induced a slew of soft contact and ground-ball outs. In the first four innings, the Diamondbacks lifted only one ball in the air. Stripling did not give up another hit until there were two outs in the fourth.

With the infield shifted toward the first-base side of the diamond, outfielder David Peralta laced a ground-ball past the vacated area in third base. Peralta slid into second. Stripling left a slider over the middle of the plate in the next at-bat, but third baseman Brandon Drury whacked it toward Howie Kendrick to end the inning.

“It’s just fun to watch him — I know it’s a small sample, but just to watch him grow,� Roberts said.

A day after starting in left field, Kendrick moved to third base as Roberts unveiled another exotic defensive alignment. Austin Barnes, usually a catcher, handled second. Hernandez hopped back aboard the conveyor belt in left.

Arizona solved Stripling, at least for a two-batter sequence, in the fifth. Chris Herrmann, the backup catcher, doubled off a thigh-high fastball. Two batters later, the Dodgers were hurt again in this series by shortstop Nick Ahmed. After hitting a pair of homers in the first two games, Ahmed hit a run-scoring single into right.

n inning later, the Diamondbacks concocted a second run built upon the legs of outfielder Socrates Brito and a pair of ground balls. Brito flicked a leadoff single over Kendrick’s head. He stole second base. He took third on a grounder by Paul Goldschmidt.

Roberts assembled his defenders to protect against what happened next. The infield edged onto the grass. But Barnes had to range too far to his right to collect a grounder off Peralta’s at-bat. There was no play at the plate. Brito doubled his team’s advantage.

In the seventh, the Dodgers found some traction against Ray. Trayce Thompson led off with a single. Barnes walked. Roberts called Turner off the bench, and watched his lineup roll.

“Once [Ray] ran out of gas, we got to the bullpen,� Hernandez said. “J.T. got that base hit. I got that double. And after that, what do people say? Hitting is contagious.�

Follow Andy McCullough on Twitter: @McCulloughTimes