Escobar hits 20th HR, Diamondbacks top shaky Dodgers 5-2

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eduardo Escobar hit his 20th home run of the season and the last-place Arizona Diamondbacks pinned another loss on the Dodgers, beating Los Angeles 5-2 Friday night.

The Diamondbacks, with the worst record in the majors, have won three of four. They're coming off a successful trip to Colorado, their first series win since May 2.

The Dodgers have lost four of five. Los Angeles didn’t help its cause with a lackluster offense that produced just five hits, a shaky defense that made two errors and a combined pitching performance that issued seven walks and hit two batters.

“When you’re not scoring runs consistently, things certainly get more magnified and it’s hard to pitch perfect,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We’ve got to be good on defense. When you’re not scoring runs, you’ve got to make sure those things are air-tight and tonight it wasn’t.”

Escobar's two-run homer in the fifth put the Diamondbacks ahead 3-1. He connected off Darien Nunez, a 28-year-old lefty who made his big league debut.

Dodgers reliever Edwin Uceta walked three batters in the ninth. Dalton Varsho drew a walk with the bases loaded to make it 4-2 and Los Angeles then turned to Jake Reed, who walked Josh Reddick to score another insurance run.

Arizona’ starter Tyler Widener was solid after coming off the injured list with a groin strain. He pitched 4 1/3 innings, allowing one run on three hits. He struck out three and walked just one. His lone mistake was to A.J. Pollock, who hit a solo home run in the third.

“I felt really good the first four innings,” Widener said. “I got a little tired there in the fifth. Good foundation for me to build off and excited to keep going forward.”

Arizona reliever Brett de Geus (1-0) earned...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Escobar-hits-20th-HR-Diamondbacks-top-shaky-16305641.php