PHOENIX -- Egged on Sunday by reporters asking about the team's infield shifts, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly went on a pregame rant about the inability of today's hitters to use the entire field.
Then his team went out and gave a clinic in professional hitting, peppering baseballs to all the nooks and corners of Chase Field in a 7-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks that side-stepped a three-game sweep here. Sixteen hits and Zack Greinke's dominance are hard to beat.
How it happened: With Clayton Kershaw off to a slow start in the first week, Greinke became the Dodgers' stopper, holding Arizona to five hits and no runs and striking out seven over seven innings. Greinke did not walk a batter. He got plenty of run support, though it took a while. The Dodgers built a picket fence by scoring single runs in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Rookie Joc Pederson hit his first major-league home run, an impressive opposite-field shot, and finished a triple shy of the cycle. The Dodgers' hits included a Pederson squibber to third base, an Adrian Gonzalez double that bounced over the wall just inside the left-field foul pole and a Jimmy Rollins liner down the right-field line. How's that for using the entire field?
What it means: The Dodgers avoided what would have been their first three-game sweep at Chase Field in seven years.
Notable: Alex Guerrero might give the Dodgers something to think about if he keeps hitting and fielding well. With Juan Uribe struggling while nursing a tight hamstring and Justin Turner out for a few days with a finger injury, Guerrero got his first major-league start at third base and drove in four runs. ... Rollins made it to June last season before making his fourth error. With two misplays Sunday, Rollins has four errors in the Dodgers' first four games. ... Chris Hatcher had a rough ninth inning, allowing an A.J. Pollock three-run double among other things. The interim closer has a 33.75 ERA in his first week with the Dodgers. ... Yasiel Puig got out of an early 2-for-17 slump with his first home run of the season. ... Greinke gushed about Yasmani Grandal's receiving skills in his previous start and the two had good chemistry again Sunday. Grandal's pitch-framing also came in handy with umpire Angel Hernandez behind the plate. He got a strike called on an ankle-high breaking ball to Paul Goldschmidt that appeared outside as well.
Up next: The Dodgers delve into the interleague portion of their schedule starting Monday against the Seattle Mariners. Brandon McCarthy (1-0, 7.20 ERA) opposes lefty James Paxton (0-1, 3.00).