LOS ANGELES -- Joc Pederson hit his sixth homer of the season Saturday night and Juan Nicasio pitched three perfect innings of relief as the Los Angeles Dodgers continued their recent domination of the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 6-4 victory at Dodger Stadium.
Pederson launched his homer deep over the center-field fence with two outs in the seventh to knot the score at 4 and Howie Kendrick broke the tie two batters later with a single to right. Jimmy Rollins added an insurance run in the eighth with an RBI single.
Pederson has homered in four straight games in which he had an at-bat, becoming the first Dodgers rookie to accomplish that feat since Bill Sudakis in 1969.
The Dodgers improved to 18-6 against the Diamondbacks since the start of last season and are 14-0 this year when scoring at least four runs.
How it happened: After striking out his first three times up, Pederson came up in the seventh and cranked the first pitch he saw from reliever Evan Marshall, tying the score 4-4. Justin Turner then doubled into the right-field corner and Kendrick followed with a ground-ball single through the right side off Marshall, easily scoring Turner after Mark Trumbo couldn’t field the ball cleanly in right field.
The Dodgers came into the game leading the majors with 35 home runs this season but it was the Diamondbacks who did early damage with the long ball. Paul Goldschmidt hit the first pitch he saw over the center-field fence for a 2-0 lead in the opening frame. After the Dodgers came back to tie the score in their half of the first and scraped together another run in the third to knot the score at 3, Arizona third baseman Aaron Hill, who hadn’t homered since last August, led off the fourth with a homer to straightaway left for a 4-3 lead.
Nicasio (1-1) relieved Dodgers starter Scott Baker after four rocky innings and retired all nine batters he faced to keep Los Angeles within a run before Pederson’s monstrous blast lifted Baker off the hook.
What it means: The Dodgers now have the second-best record in the National League after leapfrogging the New York Mets, and they kept their lead at three games over the San Diego Padres for the top spot in the West standings. The Dodgers now have 24 home runs in 14 home games, keeping them on record pace in franchise history.
Notable: Dodgers left fielder Scott Van Slyke lined a two-out RBI single up the middle in the third to tie the score at 3 and give him at least one base hit in 10 straight games, matching his career high set last summer.
Up next: The series continues Sunday afternoon, with Brett Anderson (1-1, 5.49 ERA) of the Dodgers trying to win a second game in a season for the first time since 2012. He’ll be matched against fellow left-hander Chase Anderson (0-1, 4.24), his counterpart in a 4-3 10-inning win by the Diamondbacks on April 10 in which neither pitcher earned a decision. The game is scheduled to begin at 1:10 p.m. PT.