LOS ANGELES — On a day when Shohei Ohtani was named a starter on the National League All-Star team, the Dodgers had to wonder why the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Christian Walker was not included in the group.
From the Dodgers’ perspective, Walker is about as good as major league players get and his two home runs, along with four hits on Wednesday night, were prime examples as the Diamondbacks rallied for a 12-4 victory.
Walker now has seven home runs in eight games against the Dodgers this season and five in five games at Dodger Stadium as Arizona overcame a three-run deficit in the first inning.
Expected to have the advantage on Wednesday, Dodgers rookie Gavin Stone could not leverage his recent run of success in a matchup with Diamondbacks right-hander Cristian Mena, who was making his major league debut.
Both starters gave up four runs in three innings, with Stone’s outing coming after he went 4-0 with a 1.97 ERA in five June starts and had a 1.62 ERA over his last six outings.
Mena was in trouble from the outset as each of the Dodgers’ first five hitters reached base. Shohei Ohtani singled, Will Smith walked and Freddie Freeman hit a three-run home run, his 13th. Teoscar Hernandez followed with a home run of his own, his 19th.
It was the sixth time this season the Dodgers hit back-to-back home runs and Freeman has been involved each time it happened.
But Stone’s 4-1 lead was short-lived. The Diamondbacks received a two-out RBI double from Eugenio Suarez in the third inning and Gabriel Moreno followed with a home run, his fourth, to tie the score at 4-4.
In the Dodgers’ half of the third, a Mena balk had Dodgers runners on first and third with one out. And with the Arizona 21-year-old on the ropes again, Miguel Rojas lined out to right field and Freeman was thrown out at home by Jake McCarthy while trying to tag up and score on the play.
Walker seized on the momentum with a two-out home run to left field in the fourth inning against left-hander Ryan Yarbrough (3-2).
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Arizona rolled from there, getting a Geraldo Perdomo bunt for a run in the fifth to take a 6-4 lead, while Walker doubled in the sixth and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. followed with a two-run home run for an 8-4 lead. It was Gurriel’s 12th on the season.
Suarez delivered a second RBI double in the eighth inning.
Walker was at it again in the ninth with a three-run home run off right-hander Michael Peterson, his 20th on the season. Walker now has 25 career home runs against the Dodgers in 10 seasons, his most against any one team and one more than he has against the Colorado Rockies. He also has 17 homers in 41 career games at Dodger Stadium.
The Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte, who was named the NL’s starting second baseman in the All-Star Game, went 1 for 4 with two walks and a run scored, while Ohtani went 1 for 4 with a run scored after he was named the NL’s starting designated hitter.
More to come on this story.