PHOENIX (AP) — Gabriel Moreno hit a grand slam off Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Brandon Pfaadt threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series between NL West rivals.
Shohei Ohtani hit a solo homer in the ninth — his 11th long ball of the season — but the Dodgers have now dropped three of their past five games.
Yamamoto (4-3) came into the game with an 0.90 ERA, which led the big leagues, but ran into trouble in the fourth. Pavin Smith walked, Josh Naylor singled and Eugenio Suárez was hit by a pitch with no outs before Moreno drove a cutter to right, barely clearing the fence for his first homer of the season.
Ketel Marte added a solo homer in the fifth to make it 5-0. Kevin Ginkel worked the ninth for his first save of the year.
Pfaadt (6-2) continued his stellar start to the season, giving up four hits, walking three and striking out six. Yamamoto gave up five runs on six hits and a walk, striking out four.
Max Muncy’s ground-rule double and Andy Pages’ single both scored runs as the Dodgers cut the margin to 5-2 in the eighth. Michael Conforto grounded into a double play to end the rally.
Key moment
The Dodgers were threatening in the eighth before Marte started a spectacular double play to end the threat. The second baseman ranged to his left and snagged Conforto’s grounder before wheeling and firing to Geraldo Perdomo at second, whose throw to Naylor at first was just in time.
Key stat
The Diamondbacks won their 20th game of the year. The NL West is the only division that has four teams with 20-plus wins. The other team is the Colorado Rockies, who are 6-31.
Up next
RHP Roki Sasaki (1-1, 3.86 ERA) will start for the Dodgers against LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (1-3, 5.92) and the Diamondbacks on Friday night.
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