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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Dodgers made enough mistakes in the field and on the basepaths to make a three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks a lost cause.
No one covered first base on Miguel Montero's routine grounder to second baseman Dee Gordon — not three-time Gold Glove winner Adrian Gonzalez, nor pitcher Josh Beckett. Montero ended up with a hit, and the Diamondbacks turned the mistake into a pair of runs en route to a 6-3 victory on Sunday.
"I didn't see it off the bat — and then when I saw it, I thought it was going to be between me and Dee. So I went to it," Gonzalez said. "I didn't want it to be one of those balls that just kind of sneaks by us because I didn't go after it. You have to make a decision one way or the other, and my instincts went that way. On a ball hit to the right side, for the most part the pitcher's got to break there. Certainly there was a little miscommunication."
Aaron Hill followed with a single to left field and continued to second as Matt Kemp tried to throw out Montero at third. Gordon then charged Martin Prado's slow grounder with the infield playing in — and ran past the ball as it skidded into short-right-center. Both runners scored and Prado was credited with one RBI.
A fielding error by Arizona shortstop Didi Gregorius on Jamie Romak's leadoff grounder in the seventh gave the Dodgers some life. Lefty Oliver Perez, who came in with a scoreless streak of 11 innings, walked Drew Butera before pinch-hitter Justin Turner doubled.
Butera was hoping to score behind Romak, then slammed on the breaks after he was held up by coach Lorenzo Bundy. But Gregorius took the relay from Ross and threw to Prado for the tag on Butera.
"When the ball was hit, I was thinking home. But I think I was just a little too aggressive," Butera said. "I've got to pay attention to the scoreboard a little better. We were still down a few couple of runs, and we could have had a run in with second and third and none out. I think aggressive is good — but in that situation, taking a chance there was not the best idea."
Perez then hit Gordon with an 0-2 pitch, but the D-backs escaped the inning still clinging to a 4-2 lead as Evan Marshall struck out Hanley Ramirez and retired Yasiel Puig on a tapper back to the mound.
Brad Ziegler escaped the Dodgers' eighth unscathed after retiring Romak on a double-play grounder with runners at the corners.
"For me personally, I have a good down-and-in swing, so it's kind of like you're trying to match strengths against him," Romak said. "He threw me a real good running fastball that just got in on me enough to get the double play."
Beckett (4-4) was charged with four runs and five hits through seven innings, including Paul Goldschmidt's first inning homer.
"Everything that could go wrong did go wrong," Beckett said.
Montero hit his 10th homer in the ninth, a two-run shot off Chris Perez. And for the second time in two games, Montero threw out Puig trying to steal second base in the first inning with Gonzalez at bat. Puig has been caught seven times on 14 steal attempts. Montero entered this series having thrown out only six of 39 runners.
Bronson Arroyo (7-4) won his third straight start, allowing a run and five hits in five innings. He told Gibson he couldn't continue because of the elbow pain that has bothered him since his 110-pitch complete-game victory over Washington ace Stephen Strasburg on May 13.
"It wasn't that much fun," Arroyo said after throwing 78 pitches. "I was just getting outs on location and getting comfortable enough in that environment to throw a bunch of slop up there and get guys out. It's been tough for a while."
The 15-year veteran is expecting to get an MRI on Monday.
NOTES: The Diamondbacks took a 2-1 lead in the fifth when David Peralta doubled with two out, stole third and sprinted home on Beckett's first wild pitch of the season. ... The Dodgers have only six home runs in 417 at-bats and 482 total plate appearances over their last 13 games. Gonzalez has gone 23 games without one and Puig is in a 16-game homer drought. ... Ramirez added an RBI double in the ninth for Los Angeles. ... Sixteen of Goldschmidt's 79 big league homers have come in the first inning, more than he's hit in any other frame. He has 27 over the first three innings, 27 from the fourth through the sixth, and 25 after the sixth.
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