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Los Angeles Dodgers unveil Jackie Robinson statue on 70th anniversary of debut

By The Sports Xchange
The Dodgers unveiled a statue of Jackie Robinson on the 70th anniversary of his debut with the team. Photo courtesy Los Angeles Dodgers via Twitter.
The Dodgers unveiled a statue of Jackie Robinson on the 70th anniversary of his debut with the team. Photo courtesy Los Angeles Dodgers via Twitter.

On a day when Major League Baseball honored the anniversary of the day that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, the Los Angeles Dodgers paid homage to the first black player by unveiling an 800-pound bronze statue depicting Robinson as a rookie sliding into home plate.

Among those in attendance were Robinson's wife, Rachel, and children, Sharon and David. Dodgers owner Magic Johnson was joined by baseball's first black manager Frank Robinson, as well as Vin Scully, Tommy Lasorda, Sandy Koufax and a host of other Dodgers dignitaries.

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And thanks to a stellar effort by the Dodgers bullpen, the resurgence of Yasiel Puig and a shaky Arizona defense, Los Angeles capped the night with an 8-4 win over the Diamondbacks.

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"The Dodgers have to win on Jackie Robinson Night," manager Dave Roberts said.

His bullpen made sure of it.

Four Los Angeles relievers combined to shut out Arizona for five innings and Puig belted his fourth home run in 12 games. He finished 3-for-3 with four RBIs.

"There were a lot of good things there," Roberts told the Orange County Register of Puig, who also had a run-scoring sacrifice fly, two singles and walk.

Alex Wood (1-0) relieved starter Kenta Maeda to begin the fifth inning and hurled 3 1/3 hitless innings for the win on Saturday night.

"(Maeda's) fastball velocity was still good," Roberts said, "but there were some misses with the secondary (pitches) that I didn't feel good about."

Sergio Romo followed and faced one batter, giving up a single to Paul Goldschmidt -- the only Diamondback to reach base by a hit or walk against the Dodgers' bullpen.

Jansen struck out the side in the ninth after Puig gave the Dodgers some breathing room with a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth.

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Wood was bumped from the starting rotation with Rich Hill scheduled to come off the 10-day disabled list and start Sunday. He was ready and delivered.

"There will be some nights I have one inning and some nights I'll have four innings," Wood said. "It will be whatever the game calls for, and then if they need me to start and rejoin the rotation at some point, that's what I'll do."

Patrick Corbin (1-2) was the hard-luck loser for the Diamondbacks. He entered the game with a 1.80 ERA and watched it rise to 2.81 after giving up three earned runs. He went six innings and gave up nine hits and issued three walks.

But it was defense that let Corbin down with the score tied at 4 in the fifth.

With one out, Enrique Hernandez hit a ground-rule double to deep right. He advanced to third on a wild pitch. Scott Van Slyke was intentionally walked to set up the forceout.

The strategy backfired when Van Slyke stole second and catcher Chris Herrmann tried to catch Hernandez straying too far from third.

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His throw hit Hernandez and bounced far enough way to allow Hernandez to race home for a 5-4 lead.

The Diamondbacks remained in striking distance until Puig took closer Fernando Rodney, who was pitching in a non-save situation, deep in the bottom of the eighth.

"We wanted to give (Rodney) some work. He hadn't thrown in several days and it was part by design," manager Torey Lovullo said.

The Dodgers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on three straight hits. Logan Forsythe doubled to deep right and scored on a single to short shallow by Corey Seager. Justin Turner doubled to put men on second and third. Puig's sacrifice fly scored Seager to make the score 2-0.

While Maeda breezed through the first three batters in just 11 pitches, the second inning was a different story.

Lamb led off with a single and, one batter later, Daniel Descalso walked, setting the stage for Nick Ahmed, who belted a three-run homer to left to put Arizona up 3-2.

Austin Barnes evened the game in the Dodgers' half of the third with his first major league homer and his first RBI of the season.

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Ahmed struck again in the fourth, singling in Drury to put the Diamondbacks up 4-3.

But an error by Ahmed led to an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth. The Dodgers tied the score when Seager's sacrifice fly scored Van Slyke, who pinch hit for Maeda and reached first on Ahmed's throwing error.

NOTES: Jackie Robinson was honored across Major League Baseball on Saturday as all players wore his No. 42 as well as many wore special cleats to pay tribute to the game's first player. ... Arizona kept A.J. Pollock out of the starting lineup. The struggling center fielder did pinch hit, grounding into a forceout to end the top of the seventh inning. In his past six games, Pollock is just 2-for-28 with no walks and six strikeouts. ... Dodgers RHP Kenta Maeda lasted only four innings. In each of his first two starts this season, he had lasted five innings, giving up three runs against the Padres and four against the Rockies at Coors Field. ... Even though they now are in opposite dugouts, managers Torey Lovullo and Dave Roberts have one thing in common: They both played at UCLA under the watchful eye of manager Gary Adams, who was in attendance Saturday night. Jackie Robinson also attended UCLA.

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