The Los Angeles Dodgers are used to getting pivotal hits from their dynamic 1-2 punch at the top of the batting order in Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, but it was a couple of players lower down in the lineup who delivered on Monday, with Jason Heyward and James Outman hitting back-to-back homers in the sixth inning of their 7-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Freeman and Max Muncy also went deep for the Dodgers — the 11th time this season that the team have hit at least four home runs.
They are second in the majors with 204 homers.
Photo: AP
“We know we’ve got work to do and it can’t always just be them. I think that’s been a big part of their success this year,” said Heyward, who is six for 18 in his past seven games. “We lean on them, but they lean on us, and they let us know they appreciate us when we do well.”
Heyward’s two-run homer off starter Zac Gallen (14-6) put the Dodgers back on top.
Outman followed by lining a fastball over the short wall in the right-field corner to make it 6-4.
Photo: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY
It was the ninth time this season the Dodgers hit back-to-back homers.
Outman, fourth among qualified National League rookies in homers (seven) and RBIs (58), also had an RBI single in the seventh.
“After they hit the two home runs, I felt the energy in the dugout back up on us and we didn’t recover,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said.
Los Angeles, who lead the NL West by 13 games over Arizona, won for the 22nd time in 26 games this month.
The Diamondbacks are 0.5 games in front of the San Francisco Giants for the final NL wild card.
Gallen is in the running for the NL Cy Young Award, but allowed a career-high four homers. The right-hander gave up six runs on nine hits in 5-1/3 innings.
Lovullo said that Gallen had some uncharacteristic misses with his fastball in the middle of the strike zone and the Dodgers took advantage.
“I felt solid going into the game. I didn’t put guys away. Lots of walks and guys getting ahead in the count,” Gallen said.
The Dodgers struck early with a three-run first on Freeman’s solo shot and Muncy’s two-run drive to right-center for his 31st homer of the season.
Bobby Miller (8-3) allowed four runs in six innings to pick up his second win in his past three outings.
Caleb Ferguson worked a perfect ninth for his third save.
Gabriel Moreno hit a two-run homer and drove in three for Arizona. He got the Diamondbacks on the board with an RBI double in the first inning.
After a double by Lourdes Gurriel Jr brought home Alek Thomas to get the Diamondbacks within 3-2 in the fourth, Moreno connected on Miller’s fastball for a two-run shot to right to put Arizona on top 4-3.
Moreno has gone 13 for 31 in his past eight games with two homers and 10 RBIs.
Rockies 4, Braves 14
Ronald Acuna Jr homered among his four hits, stole two bases and drove in five runs, but was involved in an unsavory incident involving fans on the field as Atlanta beat Colorado in Denver.
Ahead of the bottom of the seventh inning, a fan ran to Acuna in right field and put his arms around the Braves player.
Security officials tried to pull the man off the four-time All-Star as another fan ran into the scrum and Acuna was knocked to the ground.
Both fans were taken away and Acuna stayed in the game.
Ryan McMahon homered among his two hits, while Charlie Blackmon and Hunter Goodman also had two hits for Colorado.
Karl Kauffmann (1-4) took the loss.
Elsewhere on Monday, it was:
‧ Blue Jays 6, Nationals 3
‧ Cardinals 1, Padres 4
‧ Cubs 2, Brewers 6
‧ Giants 4, Reds 1
‧ Mariners 7, Athletics 0
‧ Mets 3, Rangers 4
‧ Orioles 9, White Sox 0
‧ Phillies 6, Angels 4
‧ Red Sox 5, Astros 13
‧ Royals 0, Pirates 5
‧ Tigers 1, Yankees 4
‧ Twins 10, Guardians 6
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