AJ Pollock leads Dodgers to win over his former team

PHOENIX — No hard feelings – but tons of hard contact.

AJ Pollock and the Arizona Diamondbacks went their abstracted ways pursuing the 2018 season. But they didn’t spell precise far, giving Pollock the accidental to revisit his erstwhile workplace and amusement disconnected for his erstwhile employers.

In the latest variation of that, Pollock had a two-run location tally and crashed into the near tract partition to marque an outstanding drawback successful the Dodgers’ 4-2 dismissal of the Diamondbacks connected Friday night.

At astir the aforesaid time, the San Francisco Giants recovered the going astatine Coors Field overmuch smoother than the Dodgers did during their sojourn this week. The Giants (100-54) bushed the Rockies, 7-2, Friday night, keeping the Dodgers (99-55) astatine bay, 1 crippled backmost successful the NL West with 8 games near successful the regular season.

The Giants reached 100 wins with the Dodgers close down them astatine 99. Their magic fig to clinch the part rubric and extremity the Dodgers’ reign aft 8 NL West titles is down to eight.

“I’m definite they’re looking astatine america saying, ‘Those guys support winning.’ And we’re looking astatine them and those guys support winning too,” Pollock said of the high-speed part race. “Two bully teams. Both teams are winning the games they’re expected to win. It’s fun. For us, it needs to conscionable beryllium you travel successful and you person 1 crippled that time and that’s the focus. You don’t privation to get excessively acold up of yourself. But, yeah, the Giants are playing great.”

Pollock’s homer was portion of a three-run 2nd inning that besides included a leadoff treble by Will Smith and an RBI azygous by Justin Turner. The Dodgers ne'er trailed aft that, though they managed to adhd connected conscionable 1 much tally (cashing successful a leadoff treble by Trea Turner successful the sixth inning).

Friday was Pollock’s 30th crippled against his erstwhile squad and helium has batted .367 (44 for 120) with 13 doubles, 8 location runs, 25 runs scored and 26 driven in. He has kicked his erstwhile squad peculiarly hard erstwhile they are down (having mislaid 105 games this season), going 20 for 42 with 7 doubles, 4 location runs and 11 RBIs successful 10 games this year.

“I don’t cognize precisely what it is,” Pollock said. “It’s familiar. The backdrop (at Chase Field) feels similar home. It was location for six years. I’ve ever liked hitting present but I can’t enactment a digit connected precisely why.”

Pollock besides taunted his ex with defence this time, crashing into the partition to tally down Josh Rojas’ thrust successful the archetypal inning.

But Pollock’s drawback wasn’t the astir awesome antiaircraft play of the night. It mightiness not adjacent person been the champion drawback made by a  Dodgers near fielder successful the game.

In the 4th inning with 1 retired and a runner connected first, Kole Calhoun sent a thrust into right-center field. Making conscionable his 2nd vocation commencement successful halfway tract (and lone his 12th arsenic an outfielder), Gavin Lux flashed his athleticism, moving it down connected the informing track. Right fielder Mookie Betts (who has talked with Lux astir the modulation from infield to outfield) gave an excited hop of joyousness erstwhile Lux made the catch.

The runner astatine first, Daulton Varsho, was truthful convinced it was going to bang disconnected the partition for a treble that helium had already rounded 2nd basal and was easy doubled disconnected archetypal to extremity the inning.

“Unbelievable. This is simply a feline who hasn’t played a full batch of outfield astatine all,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That was a heckuva play. Sheer ft velocity but the angle, the enactment to the shot — that was a large play. Today we scored capable to triumph but the defense, outfield defence successful peculiar carried us.”

Pollock’s time was done aft a double-switch successful the eighth inning. Out of the starting lineup for the ninth clip successful the past 11 games, Chris Taylor entered precocious arsenic a pinch-hitter past stayed successful to play near field.

It mightiness person been the champion treble power of the season.

Taylor made 2 outstanding plays successful the ninth, diving to drawback David Peralta’s slicing thrust down the near tract enactment for the archetypal retired of the inning.

“It was 10 percent drawback probability oregon thing similar that,” Roberts said. “The diving play, if helium doesn’t marque that drawback it could person been a antithetic inning, a antithetic game. Then helium follows that 1 up with different large play.”

With left-handed Pavin Smith up next, Taylor was shaded toward halfway tract but raced each the mode implicit to the enactment successful the left-field country to tally down Smith’s alert shot for the 2nd out.

“Yeah, I’m not definite if I’m making those plays. Either 1 of those,” said Pollock who started conscionable his 2nd crippled since injuring his near hamstring connected Sept. 4. “We mightiness inactive beryllium playing if Chris Taylor is not successful the game. … He had a bully jump. He was moving truly good and made 2 outstanding plays.”