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Dodgers offensive numbers vs. Diamondbacks

LA is averaging 7.19 runs per game against Arizona in 2021

Los Angeles Dodgers v Arizona Diamondbacks Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

The Dodgers are slugging just .366 on their current road trip, the first two legs of which brought them to hitter-friendly parks in Cincinnati and Denver. The final stop of the trip is Chase Field in Phoenix, facing a Diamondbacks team the Dodgers have pummeled in 2021.

Los Angeles is hitting .305/.392/.542 as a team against the D-backs, averaging over seven runs per game. They’ve scored two of their top six offensive outbursts against Arizona this season, including a Dodger Stadium-record 22 runs on July 10. The Dodgers also have three games scoring nine runs, and two more scoring eight against the D-backs.

That’s as good a recipe as any to win 14 out of 16 against a single team.

Justin Turner has driven in 19 runs against Arizona this season, tied for the third-most by a Dodger against the D-backs in one season. He trails only J.D. Drew (20 RBI in 2006), Matt Kemp (22, 2011), and Adrián González (25, 2014), the latter a record against Arizona for a player from any team.

Turner is also hitting .333/.375/.579 against the D-backs this season, which is great. But his .954 OPS trails six at least semi-regulars for the Dodgers who all have at least a 1.000 OPS against Arizona.

Albert Pujols — .389/.450/.750 against the D-backs — has thrived in his limited role with the Dodgers, punishing left-handed pitchers, and excelling as a pinch-hitter, the latter a role he never really did that much as an everyday player for over 20 years. Pujols has driven in 38 runs since joining the Dodgers, and amazingly 16 of those RBI are against the D-backs, in 13 games and 40 plate appearances.

AJ Pollock, the ex-Diamondback, has thrived the most against his former team. With 19 hits in 38 at-bats, he’s hitting a robust .500/535/.921 against Arizona, with an incredible 10 extra-base hits — seven doubles, three home runs — in only nine games.

He’s had at least a .900 OPS against his former team in all three seasons since joining the Dodgers, hitting .371/.419/.690 with eight home runs, 13 doubles, and 24 RBI in 29 games.

Pollock is a career .301/.354/.507 hitter at Chase Field. His 149 extra-base hits in Arizona are the eighth-most in the ballpark’s history, and his 44 home runs there are tied for 10th.

Here are some other standout Dodgers offensive performers against the D-backs in 2021:

  • Will Smith: .390/.449/.756, four home runs, three doubles, five walks
  • Max Muncy: .383/.453/.723, three home runs, seven doubles, five walks
  • Mookie Betts: .306/.429/.633, four homers, four doubles, 16 runs scored in 13 games
  • Chris Taylor: .333/.434/.600, three home runs, triple, double, seven walks

The Dodgers’ best winning percentage against the Diamondbacks in one season is .842, winning 16 of 19 games against a 111-loss Arizona squad in 2004. Aside from that, the last time the Dodgers beat one team at least 16 games in a season was in 1963, going 16-2 against the hapless Mets, then in their second year.

Against the current D-backs — losers of 104 games with nine to play — Los Angeles is 14-2.

The Dodgers have scored 115 runs vs. Arizona this season, three shy of their total against them in 2004. The record for most runs scored against the D-backs in one season is 131, by the 2016 Rockies. Sixteen runs this weekend would tie that, 17 or more would break it.