Grandal’s single caps 5-run rally as Dodgers beat D-backs

The latest stop on his summer introductory lap was Saturday night’s Los Angeles Dodger’s game, where Walton tossed out the first pitch before the team took on the Arizona Diamondback’s at Dodger Stadium.

Yasmani Grandal’s RBI single capped the Dodgers’ five-run rally in their 9-7 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.

That improbably-timed surge has combined with the San Francisco Giants’ freefall (they are 2-11 since reaching the All-Star break with the best record in baseball) to shave 5 ½ games off the Giants’ lead in the NL West. The Dodgers are now within a game of first place, the closest they have been since May 15.

Reliever Pedro Baez (3-2) gave up a hit in 1/3 of an inning for the win.

Kenley Jansen retired the final four Arizona hitters for his 31st save.

Arizona’s Zac Curtis (0-1) allowed two runs and didn’t return a batter.

Over his last four starts, Maeda has struck out 26 and walked one over 23 innings.

Brandon Drury singled home Phil Gosselin with two outs in the seventh for Arizona’s final run.

Chase Utley’s two-run blast, his seventh this season, tied the score at 7. Gosselin was originally called out, which would have ended the inning, but upon instant replay review was overturned because shortstop Corey Seager first tagged the infield dirt before Gosselin.

Because of that inning, the game was so long that the Dodgers nearly had to cancel their planned fireworks show, which they announced in the top of the ninth inning, causing boos from the home team even though the Dodgers were holding a two-run lead. Goldschmidt had three hits, to see his season average back above.300, and Welington Castillo got a pair of hits.

Paul Goldschmidt, who torched Los Angeles for 21 doubles, 24 home runs and 74 RBIs in his first 86 games against the Dodgers – including 3 for 5 with 3 RBIs in the series’ opener – went 0 for 4 in this game.

Chase Utley: Game-tying two-run homer. 259 with four homers and 15 RBI in 147 at-bats for Arizona this season, was placed on the disabled list for the second time this season on June 15 due to a lower back strain.

To make room for Peralta, the Diamondbacks optioned Mike Freeman to Triple-A Reno on Thursday night. The Dodgers, who split the two-game series with Tampa Bay, managed only four hits against Rays starter Matt Moore.

According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetDSI, the Dodgers are -1.5 (+105) on the runline while the Diamondbacks are +1.5 (-115) for tonight’s game. Hall of Famer and former Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda announced his retirement 20 years ago on this date…. Los Angeles has won 14 of its last 22 games heading into Saturday’s contest against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks, who have dropped eight of their last 10 and figure to be active sellers before the August 1 trade deadline.