Dodgers Defeat Diamondbacks 8-5, to Take a 2-0 Lead in NLDS

Nine more wins.

Yasiel Puig, Logan Forsythe, and Austin Barnes combined for eight hits and the Los Angeles Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five NLDS after defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-5, in Game 2 at Dodger Stadium.

Puig was the star of the show on Saturday night as he flipped his bat, wagged his tongue, and raised his arms, all while the sellout crowd of 54,726 people—the most attended game at Chavez Ravine since 2012—chanted his name.

"Maybe they chanted my name because yesterday in my triple I go out with my tongue, maybe that's why they chanted my name tonight," Puig said following the win. "If you hit, the people will yell your name. If you strike out, who's going to yell your name?"

Puig had a postseason career-high three hits on the night, and is batting .500 with one run, one double, one triple, and four RBI in his last six postseason games.

Arizona carried a big stick, but the Dodgers spoke softly as all of the Snakes offense came via the home run, whereas the entirety of the Dodgers offense came from singles, doubles, and heads up base running.

"I never would have thought we'd be up 2-0," admitted Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts when told the Diamondbacks have six homers to the Dodgers two. "Credit the players, the offensive players, it's trying to use the big playing of the field, get that hit, take that walk if you need to. I think to spoil pitches and to grind, that's when I think we're at our best, but we can homer too."

For the second straight night, the Dodgers collected 12 total hits, and tied a franchise postseason record with four stolen bases on Saturday.

Logan Forsythe had three of those hits, and Austin Barnes had two of his own as the bottom third of the order did most of the damage against the Diamondbacks.

"We've got a lot of good players, and a lot of depth," Roberts said about the 6-7-8 hitters in his lineup on Saturday. "There are so many guys in our lineup that can hurt you. I don't kow many times they were on base, but the 6, 7, 8 spot, those guys were on base all night, being productive, driving runs in."

The game started on the right foot for the Snakes as Paul Goldschmidt put the Diamondbacks in front with a two-run home run off Rich Hill in the first inning.

Paul Goldschmidt has 4 career postseason HRs, tied with Luis Gonzalez for 2nd most in @Dbacks franchise history, & his 11 RBI are 3rd most. pic.twitter.com/iKK9VWMq56
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) October 8, 2017

The 430-foot blast that cleared the Dodgers bullpen, was Goldschmidt's second home run of the postseason as the D-Backs first baseman is batting .357 with six runs, four homers, and 11 RBI in six career postseason games.

"I tried to throw a fastball down and away, and it ran back-middle, he did what he should with it," Hill said of his mistake pitch to Goldschmidt. "I was able to keep the team there with two runs and gave us everything I could for today."

Early in the game, it appeared that Dodgers' starter Rich Hill was getting no love from home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi. 

Hill threw a 3-2 curveball to A.J. Pollock in the first inning that appeared to be an easy strike three call, but Cuzzi squeezed Hill, granting Pollock first base, and Goldschmidt followed with the two-run homer.

Hill settled down from there, allowing just the two runs on three hits with three walks and four strikeouts in four innings.

In his frist career postseason start, Robbie Ray struggled with his command, but still had a no-hitter through the first 3 and 1/3 innings unil the Dodgers finally scratched some runs across the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning.

"Robbie's done really well agains us this year," said Logan Forsythe who got the first hit of Ray in the game. "I think at times facing him this year, we've kind of gotten out of the approach and wanted to do too much. That was what we harped on earlier tody and what our plan wanted to be on the field."

Forsythe broke up the no-no with a single to left field, and Barnes followed with a single to right field. Puig added a bloop single to right-center and the bases were loaded for pinch-hitter Kyle Farmer.

Farmer struck out in his first ever career postseason at-bat, but not before Ray threw a wild pitch, allowing the tying run to score.

Forsythe Scores on Wild Pitch pic.twitter.com/a0yGpOEcUg
— Dodgers (@DodgersVideos) October 8, 2017

"Kyle is a great story. First time in the big leagues. Ray's a tough one. I don't know if it was an eight, nine, pitch at-bat, but we ended up scoring a run on a wild pitch," said Roberts of Farmer's at-bat against Ray. "Every time we get Kyle in there, we like him. We liked the at-bat. He just competed right there."

Three pitches later, Chris Taylor picked up his first career postseason RBI, with an infield single to shortstop Ketel Marte and the Dodgers took a 3-2 lead.

"This was a huge win for out team," Taylor said after the game. "It's nice to see the bats get going again and being aggressive and making pitchers work. It's been fun."

One inning later, the Dodgers chased Ray from the game with a four-run fifth inning, as Forsythe, Barnes and Puig all recorded RBI.

Dodgers score 4 runs in the 5th pic.twitter.com/c4aFCZHRSk
— Dodgers (@DodgersVideos) October 8, 2017

Ray (0-1) took the loss, allowing four runs on four hits with four walks and six strike outs in 4 and 1/3 innings.

Ray had been dominant against the Dodgers in five regular season starts, but was forced to start Game 2 on just three days rest after throwing 2.1 innings of relief in Arizona's wild-card win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday.

"I think with the wild-card game, it kind of three things out of whack a little bit," said Diamondbacks relief pitcher Archie Bradley. "You have to win that game to get here. So it's about trying to use this off day now the best we can to get healthy. This series is not over."

The seventh inning continued to haunt the Dodgers in the postseason as Brandon Drury hit a pinch-hit, three-run homer off relief pitcher Brandon Morrow to close the gap to 7-5.

Brandon Drury with the 3rd pinch-hit HR in @Dbacks postseason history (Erubiel Durazo, #NLCS Game 5, 2001; Turner Ward, #NLDS Game 3, 1999). pic.twitter.com/tYYjv6DyXc
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) October 8, 2017

The solo shot to Drury was the first home run allowed by Morrow all season, and just the third pinch-hit hoe run in Arizona's postseason history, as Drury joined Erubiel Durazo and current Dodgers' hitting coach Turner Ward as the only players in Diamondbacks history to do it.

"That's one of the great characteristics of this team. We're a smart, tough baseball team. We feel like we can strike at any time offensively," said D-Backs manager Torey Lovullo. "We're always looking for that moment and that edge. And that's what leads me to think we're going to be okay getting home."

Kenley Jansen entered the game in the eighth inning for a five-out save, his ninth career postseason save and the third in which he had to pitch one inning or more.

"I was told before the game be ready for six outs," said Jansen. "Going into that inning, Doc told me if anybody get's on, he's going to me, and that's what happened. We can't take anything for granted now. We have to continue to make pitches. We just have to continue to put the pressure on them."

The Dodgers have scored 17 runs on 24 hits in the first two games of the series agains their N.L. West rivals and are on the brink of sweeping the series, and celebrating in Phoenix for the second time in four years.

Make Some Noise

Rich Hill was seen in the dugout holding up a cardboard sign that read "Make Some Noise!" in the seventh inning to try and pump up the crowd. 

Rich Hill wants more noise pic.twitter.com/iUi0mYAf8A— Ryan Walton (@RyanWaltonSBN) October 8, 2017

"I was trying to pump up the crowd. It was a little subdued atmosphere after that home run [by Brandon Drury], and I wanted everybody to get into it a little bit more," Hill said of the sign. "The sign worked for a little bit then I found out it was not allowed in the dugout."

Up Next:

The series shifts to the desert on Monday as old friend Zack Greinke takes on right-hander Yu Darvish in Game 3 at Chase Field.