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Joc Pederson's Power Ball Leads Dodgers Past D-Backs 7-4, Maeda Hurt

Joc Pederson hit two homers and the Dodgers combined to hit four long balls as Los Angeles snapped a three-game losing streak with a 7-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Tuesday night.

PHOENIX – It was a home run derby in the desert.

Joc Pederson hit two homers and the Dodgers combined to hit four long balls as Los Angeles snapped a three-game losing streak with a 7-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Tuesday night.

Pederson homered in back-to-back innings for the boys in blue as the Dodgers rallied from a two-run deficit.

"I was just trying to put the barrel on it and it went much farther than what I was trying to do," Pederson said of his home runs. "We came up with some big hits. We need to do our part so we need to come together and get some runs for our pitching staff."

The Diamondbacks staked an early two-run lead with RBI singles in the first and third off Dodgers' starter Kenta Maeda.

LA took the lead with a three-run fifth inning before the D-backs tied the game in the bottom half with an RBI single by Jean Segura.

Justin Turner continued to hit the cover off the ball as he belted a home run to left field in the bottom of the sixth inning. Three batters later, Pederson blasted a fence-buster into the pool area in right-center field as the Dodgers jumped back out to a 5-3 lead. 

"The at-bat before he threw me a fist pitch breaking ball, so I was looking for it and he left it up," Turner said of his 458-foot home run. "This is a great place to play offense. A lot bigger outfield and the ball flies a little bit more here."

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Maeda did not make it out of the sixth inning—not because he ran into trouble or was fatigued—but because he literally was knocked out of the game by Paul Goldschmidt who hit a line drive off the Japanese right-hander's right shin. 

"That ball got him pretty good," said teammate Chase Utley. "We definitely need him. You never want to see your teammate hurt like that."

Maeda (6-4) limped off the field—X-rays were negative—and exited the game allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits with six strikeouts in 5 and 1/3 innings of work.

"I held my breath," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters. "Kenta has been such a consistent pitcher for us. In light of what has been going on this season, if he's hurt, it's going to be a tough one.

"X-rays were fortunately negative and we're expecting him to make his next start. We're optmistic and encouraged."

Chase Utley hit a two-run homer for the Dodgers in the top of the seventh as they extended their lead to 7-4. Utley had four RBI in the game and scored his 999th run of his career on the long ball.

"I was just trying to put the ball in play. I was able to put a decent swing on it and it got out," Utley told reporters. "I liked our at-bats yesterday and it carried over today."

Archie Bradley (2-3) had a no-hitter through four innings, but was beat up by the Dodgers in the fifth and sixth innings. The sophomore starter allowed five runs on four hits with nine strikeouts in five and 2/3 innings.

Kenley Jansen struck out the side in the ninth for his 160th career save, as the Dodgers snapped a string of six consecutive one-run games. 

Players of the Game:

Joc Pederson: 2-for-4 with two solo home runs.
Justin Turner: 2-for-4 with a home run.
Chase Utley: 2-for-5 with a home run and four RBI. 

Three Takeaways:

1. Power Ball: Joc Pederson hit two home runs on Tuesday, the third multi-homer game of his career. Pederson also hit two dingers on May 6, 2015 and May 17, 2016. Pederson is staring to heat up as he is hitting .300 of his last eight eight games.

2. Down Goes Maeda: Kenta Maeda was struck on the right shin by a 96MPH liner off the bat of Paul Goldschmidt in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Japanese right-hander laid on the mound, writhing in pain, until trainers had to carry him off the field. Maeda immediately went down to get X-rays (which were negative) and the team will await the results of an MRI on Wednesday.

3. Mr. 999: Chase Utley scored the 999th run of his career on Tuesday night and is one shy of the 1,000 milestone for his career. Only 323 other major leaguers have ever reached the thousand mark in their career. 

Up Next:
Dodgers (34-32): Clayton Kershaw takes the mound in the finale of the three-game series in the Desert as Los Angeles looks to win the rubber match.

Diamondbacks (29-38): Patrick Corbin gets the call for Arizona in a rare Wednesday matinee. First pitch is scheduled for 12:40PM PST.

All quotes courtesy of Time Warner SportsNetLA.

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