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Teoscar Hernández’s 3-run homer propels Dodgers past Diamondbacks – San Bernardino Sun

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Dodgers starting pitcher Dustin May throws to the plate during the first inning of their game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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LOS ANGELES — What was shaping up to be a disappointing homestand for the Dodgers ended on a high note.

Teoscar Hernandez made sure of it.

Hernandez hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the sixth inning to back a solid outing from Dustin May, and the Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-1, on Wednesday night to wrap up their nine-game homestand.

Hernandez’s blast swung the game in the Dodgers’ favor after they were shut out by D-backs ace Corbin Burnes for the first five innings. With two on, two outs and the Dodgers desperately looking for an answer against Burnes, Hernandez got a 1-and-2 slider over the plate and deposited it 413 feet onto the netting beyond the center field wall.

“I was trying to get something that I can put in play,” Hernandez said. “I think that was the only pitch that he missed all night. He was throwing the ball pretty good, hitting the spots he wanted to hit, and I think he just missed that one.”

The homer was Hernandez’s 10th of the season and his first in three games since coming off the injured list with a left groin strain.

“I think it just tells me that he relishes those spots,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s not afraid to fail. He can manage his emotions. He can kind of fend off a fastball. He can hit and slug or hit soft stuff, secondary pitches. He can hit to all fields. And that’s what you have to do to drive in runs. If you look at baseball, he’s really in the elite class of the ability to drive in runs.”

The Dodgers managed just one hit through five innings against Burnes before finally coming alive in the sixth. Miguel Rojas led off with an infield single and Mookie Betts followed two batters later with a single through the left side. Burnes struck out Freddie Freeman and pulled within a strike of finishing Hernandez to quash the rally, but the 85 mph slider he intended to bury down and away instead stayed up over the plate, and Hernandez didn’t miss it.

Hernandez’s homer made a winner of May, who delivered six sharp innings with five hits and one run allowed, one walk and eight strikeouts. The 27-year-old right-hander allowed a leadoff home run to Ketel Marte in the fourth, but that was his only blemish in a dominant performance.

May struck out four of the first seven batters he faced to set the tone immediately and kept the Diamondbacks off-balance all night. He recorded at strikeout in every inning, got multiple swings and misses with all four of his pitches and sat at least half a mile per hour above his season average on every offering.

“I felt much better today, physically, than I did the last outing,” May said. “Just felt way more in tune with myself, and was able to execute some more throws.”

The one time he ran into a jam with runners on the corners and one out in the sixth, he induced a foul pop-up and weak ground ball to get out of it.

May departed with the Dodgers trailing 1-0 and was initially in line to be the hard-luck loser of a pitchers’ duel with Burnes, but Hernandez changed that with one swing.

Tanner Scott, one night after blowing a save, retired the side in order in the ninth to finish it and give the NL West-leading Dodgers (31-19) their 18th come-from-behind win of the season.

“I mean, we’re feeling good,” Hernandez said. “Obviously we’re not playing the baseball that we know we can play, but it’s a long season, and we’re gonna catch up and we’re gonna start playing that (way).”

After going 2-5 to open their homestand, the Dodgers finished with an extra-inning rally to beat the D-backs in the middle game of the series and, thanks to Hernandez, another late rally to win the finale and take the series.

Now, they head into a marquee weekend series against the New York Mets to begin a six-game road trip. Thanks to Hernandez, they’ll go in with momentum on their side.

“It was big,” Roberts said. “And it’s one of those things where, I think if you look at kind of where we’re at, looking at the schedule going forward, you have to win the games that you have to win and you have leads. And we did. We did a nice job of that in the last two games. And we’re going to have a good test coming up on the road.”



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