Christian Walker Hits Two More Homers in 9-3 Rout of Dodgers

The Diamondbacks take the series from the Dodgers behind another great night by Walker and dominating relief work headlined by Justin Martinez

Jul 4, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker (53) celebrates with shortstop Geraldo Perdomo (2) after a home run during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jason Parkhurst-USA TODAY Sports / Jason Parkhurst-USA TODAY Sports

We've run out of superlatives to describe Christian Walker's dominance in Dodger Stadium. The Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman provided the early fireworks on the Fourth of July by hitting two more homers in a 9-3 rout of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Walker's first homer came in the first inning, a 435 foot blast to left. Joc Pederson had hit a solo homer just ahead of Walker.

The second homer was a two run shot in the third inning that gave the D-backs a 4-3 lead at the time. It was the second straight night Walker had a two homer game.

5 homers in this series for #Dbacks Christian Walker

9th in 9 games vs Dodgers

22 HR 62 RBI on the season

He’s an All Star , right ?

pic.twitter.com/jTa9cjUfQd

— Jack Sommers (@shoewizard59) July 5, 2024

It was Walker's eight hit and fifth homer of the series, and he drove in nine runs. In six games in Dodger Stadium this year he's hit seven homers. In nine games against the Dodgers this year, including home games, he has nine homers and 15 RBI.

Walker was typically humble about his power outburst this week. "It's easy to try to go up there and hit homers, so I'm trying not to do too much, trying to keep it simple and trust my plan. To be honest it's crazy to me too."

Torey Lovullo talked about Walker's work ethic and consistency. "Christian is self made, he is a coaches dream, a managers dream. He's on a schedule, there's a routine to everything that he does....he does all the little things to make sure that his game is tuned up. He deserves what he gets in this game."

The Dodgers managed to make it a ball game in the middle innings. Zac Gallen was averaging 97 MPH with his fastball and topped out at 98 MPH through the first couple of innings. He struggled a bit with control however and the Dodgers were able to foul off a lot of pitches, running up his pitch count.

That finally paid off for LA when they got to Gallen for three runs in the fourth inning. Two singles and a one out walk loaded the bases. An RBI ground out was followed by an Austin Barnes bloop single into left, scoring two more.

Gallen's night was done after four innings as Torey Lovullo gave him the early hook at 85 pitches thrown. His final line was 4 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB and 4 K.

Justin Martinez came in to pitch the fifth. A couple of runners reached on swinging bunts, but Martinez had arguably the best stuff he's ever shown in a game. He struck out two batters to work out of the inning. Martinez thenretired the side in order in the 6th inning on just six pitches.

That allowed Lovullo to send Martinez back out for the seventh. He struck out Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernandez and got Freddie Freeman to ground out to short to finish up three dominating innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out five. His record is now 3-0 with a 1.54 ERA

Said Lovullo, "We won this game because of Justin Martinez and Christian Walker."

All Star Ketel Marte had an RBI single in the fifth inning to up the D-backs lead to 5-3. The D-backs sent nine men to the plate in the ninth inning. After oading the bases after two outs, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had a two run single and Gabriel Moreno laced a two run double, his third hit of the night.

Ryan Thompson retired the side in order in the 8th, and Thyago Vieira did him one better, striking out the side in the 9th. The five scoreless innings from the bullpen were on top of the six scoreless innings of relief last night.

Between Gallen and Bullpen the D-backs the pitching staff held Ohtani and Freeman to 0-for-7 with six strikeouts.

There were also four stolen bases by four different players, Alek Thomas, Corbin Carroll, Marte, and Moreno. There were also two outstanding catches in the outfield, one by Carroll, and one by Thomas. This was almost a perfect game and a perfect series by the Diamondbacks.

Truth be told, this should have been a sweep were it not for a ninth inning blown save on Tuesday night. The Diamondbacks were aggressive the entire series from the first inning of the first game. They'll have to settle for taking both three game series in Dodger Stadium this year two games to one.

Their record improves to 43-44. They remain 2.5 games out of the third NL Wild Card position behind the St. Louis Cardinals who are 45-41

The D-backs move on to San Diego to play another big series against the Padres. The first of a three game series is Friday night at 6:40 P.M. Slade Cecconi will start against Randy Vasquez for the Padres.