He Dodgers The dugout sat in silent dejection.
Two rows behind, a Dodgers fan stood up and began waving his arms.
Circling the bases in front of them was the club’s new number one enemy, a good MLB hitter who, during his trips to Dodger Stadium in recent years, suddenly acts like a mix of Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth.
One more time, Christian walker He had the Dodgers’ number.
For the second consecutive night, he hit two home runs to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 9-3victory in the playoff match at Chavez Ravine.
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Entering this week, Walker already had a reputation as a Dodgers killer. In 87 previous games against the club, he had hit 22 homers and had 50 RBIs. His numbers against franchise icon Clayton Kershaw were especially good, with a career .294 batting average against the future Hall of Famer.
“I have some ideas,” Kershaw, who remains sidelined following offseason shoulder surgery, told reporters Thursday afternoon about how the team might neutralize Walker in the series finale. “For our guys, not for you guys.”
Whatever Kershaw was thinking, it apparently didn’t work.
Instead, after hitting a home run in the series opener on Tuesday, and then two more in Arizona’s rout of the Dodgers on Wednesday night, Walker continued his weeklong hot streak with another two-homer blast on Thursday, etching his name into recent Dodger Stadium history in the process.
Since 2002, Walker’s 19 home runs at the ballpark are the most among visiting players, tying former Diamondbacks star Paul Goldschmidt. Among visiting players with at least 100 plate appearances at the ballpark in that span, Walker’s .783 slugging percentage is first, while his .341 batting average is second.
Walker’s two homers on Thursday came off Dodgers rookie starter Landon Knack.
In the first inning, he followed up a Joc Pederson homer with a solo homer of his own. In the third inning, Walker hit a two-run homer deep to left field, helping Arizona open up a 4-0 lead.
The most telling moment of Walker’s dominance over the Dodgers, though, might have come in the top of the fifth inning. With a runner on second, two outs and left-handed reliever Anthony Banda on the mound, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts held up four fingers from the dugout.
An intentional walk.
For a hitter who, in parks other than Dodger Stadium this year, was hitting .257 with a .788 OPS.
Though Walker would draw just one more walk the rest of the night (he finished two for three on Thursday and eight for 13 in the series with five homers and nine RBIs), his contributions were enough to fuel the Diamondbacks’ series-clinching victory.
The Dodgers scored three runs in the fourth inning on Kiké Hernández’s RBI groundout and Austin Barnes’ two-run single.
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But after a fielding error by Freddie Freeman in the fifth helped the Diamondbacks regain their multi-run lead, Arizona’s bullpen shut the door for the final five innings while its lineup added four insurance runs in the top of the ninth.
The biggest concern for the Dodgers on Thursday was outfielder Jason Heyward, who left the game after two innings because of a sore left knee.
Heyward had just one at-bat Thursday, grounding out in the first, but he also appeared shaken up after jumping toward Pederson’s home run ball off the right-field wall.
The veteran had been in a slump of late, entering Thursday just 3-for-34 in his last 11 games.
But he remained a key part of their outfield platoon, playing most days in right field given the Dodgers’ heavy dose of opposing right-handed pitching.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
