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Scott Van Slyke turned the tide on Wednesday with one swing of the bat, driving a three-run home run into the left field seats in the sixth inning to give the Dodgers a 3-2 victory over the Diamondbacks on getaway day at Chase Field in Phoenix.
The Dodgers were down 1-0 with two outs in the sixth against Patrick Corbin, when Adrian Gonzalez and Howie Kendrick each singled to extend the inning. Then Van Slyke, who has battled injuries for the better part of the last year, connected for his first home run of the year.
Van Slyke also doubled against Corbin for his first multi-hit game of the season, after entering Wednesday just 3-for-23 (.130) in limited action in 2016.
That provided enough support for Clayton Kershaw, though just barely. Kershaw allowed a home run to Rickie Weeks in the second inning, then with Michael Bourn on base in the sixth Dodgers killer Paul Goldschmidt - who struck out twice in his first two at-bats - missed a game-tying home run by inches, driving a ball off the yellow line on the left field wall but not over.
Bourn scored but Goldschmidt had to settle for a single, as Van Slyke got the ball in quickly.
The Diamondbacks threatened against Kershaw again in the seventh with a leadoff double by Welington Castillo, but Kershaw got two strikeouts surrounding a ground out to end the frame unscathed.
Kershaw ended up striking out 11 in his 7⅓ innings, allowing just the two runs, earning his 10th win of the season.
Goldschmidt was a factor again in the eighth, facing Joe Blanton as the go-ahead run after Brandon Drury reached on a fielding error by Corey Seager at shortstop. It was a hard-fought eight-pitch battle, but Blanton came out on top, inducing a ground ball to Seager to end the inning.
Kenley Jansen retired the side in the ninth for his 19th save, matching Eric Gagne with his 161st career save, tops in Dodgers history.
7th walk
In the fifth inning Kershaw threw a full-count pitch to Yasmany Tomas that, despite its location, resulted in Kershaw's seventh walk of the season, against 133 strikeouts.
Call hurts #Dodgers
— Dodgers Strike Zone (@DodgersUmp) June 15, 2016
Ball 4 should be strike 3
Bot 5 Kershaw vs Tomas
2% call same
5.9in from edge pic.twitter.com/dLv620zcnS
Tomas thought it was strike three.
Clayton Kershaw's 7th "walk." Yasmany Tomas was actually walking back to the dugout like strike three. #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/I00x0nRIPL
— Ryan Walton (@RyanWaltonSBN) June 15, 2016
Wednesday particulars
Home runs: Scott Van Slyke (1); Rickie Weeks (6)
WP - Clayton Kershaw (10-1): 7⅓ IP, 5 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 11 strikeouts
LP - Patrick Corbin (3-6): 6⅓ IP, 3 hits, 3 runs, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts
Sv - Kenley Jansen (19): 1 IP, 2 strikeouts