Walker Buehler tossed a three-hitter for his first career shutout, Will Smith launched a solo homer and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-0 on Monday night.
Buehler (2-1) was superb, retiring 15 straight batters during a brilliant stretch from the fourth inning to the ninth. He walked none, hit one batter with a pitch and struck out 10, leaving the field to a standing ovation from the sizable contingent of Dodgers fans at Chase Field.
The right-hander threw 108 pitches, getting Christian Walker on a fly ball to center field for the final out as Los Angeles won for the 11th time in 13 games.
The Dodgers wasted little time taking a 2-0 advantage, which was plenty for Buehler. Leadoff hitter Mookie Betts walked to start the first, Freddie Freeman doubled and Trea Turner brought them both home with another double.
Max Muncy’s two-out double in the fifth scored Betts, pushing it to 3-0. Smith’s 425-foot shot into the left-center seats in the eighth made it 4-0. Smith and Freeman both finished with two hits.
Buehler’s dominance against Arizona came after a relatively slow start to the season by his lofty standards. The two-time All-Star had a 4.02 ERA through three starts before Monday.
A lot of opposing pitchers have found their groove against the D-backs’ lineup, which was 29th out of 30 teams with a .189 batting average coming into Monday’s games. Daulton Varsho, David Peralta and Walker had the team’s three hits and all were singles.
Arizona starter Merrill Kelly (1-1) took the loss despite pitching fairly well, giving up three runs over six innings. He permitted seven hits and two walks while striking out four.
ROSTER MOVES
Dodgers: RHP Andre Jackson was called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City. INF/OF Zach McKinstry was sent to Triple-A.
Diamondbacks: OF Jordan Luplow (strained right oblique) joined the team from the 10-day injured list and LHP Tyler Gilbert was promoted from Triple-A Reno. LHP Oliver Perez was designated for assignment and OF Jake McCarty was sent to Triple-A. Luplow made his season debut in the eighth
UP NEXT
The Diamondbacks send RHP Zach Davies (1-1, 5.02 ERA) to the mound to face Dodgers RHP Tony Gonsolin (1-0, 0.69) on Tuesday.
