Adrian homers in fourth straight as LA sweeps

PHOENIX -- The Dodgers on Sunday escaped with a sweep of the D-backs.

An 8-6 win was Los Angeles' third straight at Chase Field and ran its mark to 5-0 against Arizona this year, but it followed an uncomfortable formula as the Dodgers jumped out to a big lead and barely held on.

The Dodgers were powered by home runs from Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp and Juan Uribe. But Arizona played long ball, too, with a pair homers -- a solo shot by Eric Chavez capping a three-run third inning off starter Dan Haren and a three-run blast by Mark Trumbo on Jamey Wright's hanging curve in the seventh turning this one into another nail-biter.

Ultimately, the Dodgers won it with defense and pitching. Manager Don Mattingly called a pickoff at first base after he brought in left-handed reliever Paco Rodriguez, who nailed rookie Chris Owings to cut off a D-backs threat in the sixth inning without throwing a pitch. Chris Perez shut down another threat in the eighth and closer Kenley Jansen got the save by striking out a pair in a perfect ninth inning that saw the radar gun hit 100 mph.

Gonzalez had a three-run homer and added a double to his recent rampage. His hitting streak is nine games and his extra-base hitting streak is eight, one shy of the franchise record set by Jack Fournier in 1925 and matched by John Roseboro in 1961. Ten of Gonzalez's 14 hits this year are for extra bases, and his home run in four consecutive games is one shy of the club mark. 

"You come to a park that's a good place to hit and it makes you a little more aggressive," said Gonzalez, who drove in 10 runs during the series and has 59 RBIs in 59 career games at Chase Field. "You feel better as a hitter."

The Dodgers also played some small ball, with six walks and five stolen bases, Dee Gordon getting two of the walks and a career-high four steals, one without a pitch thrown when he took off while reliever Randall Delgado kicked at the rubber.

"I saw the pitcher wasn't paying attention, the fielders weren't paying attention," said Gordon, who also made a big defensive play at second base leading off the bottom of the ninth. "I took off. I didn't want to freak out anybody. I tried to be sneaky about it."

Haren (2-0) was credited with the win, given a five-run lead and hanging on to enough of it during 5 2/3 difficult innings.

"I could tell from the start it was going to be a battle," said Haren. "I was able to get through it. I don't know how. I face them again next week and I have to have better stuff than this."

He also agreed that Gordon's dynamics on the bases are upsetting to an opposing pitcher.

"I know when I pitch, you have to keep those guys off base," he said. "They make you try to be quicker to the plate, and doing that you tend to leave balls over the plate."

Mattingly said a 9-4 start to the season, and 7-1 on the road for the first time since 1983, has relieved his anxiety about a slow start after the trip to Australia.

"I think we did a nice job getting ready to play," he said. In a sense, the days off [five this month] have been a blessing, even though they mess up your schedule."

"They played very well, they pitched very well and they swung the bats very well. We outhit them today, but they just got more runs than us," said manager Kirk Gibson, whose D-backs had 13 hits to the Dodgers' seven. "We walked six people and made an error, and they jumped on it with timely hits. They are playing good right now, and you got to tip your cap to them."

Haren survived a 32-pitch first inning without allowing a run, then was given a lead when Kemp led off the top of the second by hammering a 2-2 pitch that Arizona starter Trevor Cahill seemed to know was headed for trouble before the swing started. Kemp pulled the high fastball down the left-field line and into the back of Arizona's bullpen.

Leading off the top of the third, Haren grounded out to right field. Showing his foot speed is no match for his bat, he wrapped what looked like a sharp single, but Gold Glove outfielder Gerardo Parra charged the ball, gunned to first on a short hop and Haren was out by a half-step.

"I smoked it," Haren said half-jokingly. "I hit it too hard."

On the other end of the speedometer was Gordon, who walked his first two times up, stealing second base twice and third base once without a throw. Gordon walked after Haren's odd groundout, stole second and third. Yasiel Puig walked and stole second, Gordon holding third so Hanley Ramirez could bring him home with a high-hop infield single off the plate.

With runners on the corners, Gonzalez unloaded on a 1-1 pitch for a 5-0 lead, but Arizona cut into it quickly.

The second time through the batting order, the D-backs hurt Haren with a double by Parra, a triple by Aaron Hill and a homer by Chavez, trimming the lead to 5-3. Gonzalez's no-out double chased Cahill in the fifth and led to runs on Andre Ethier's groundout and a fielding error by first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

Gonzalez and reliever Paco Rodriguez combined to bail out Haren in the sixth with runners on first and second and two outs. Before throwing a pitch in relief, Rodriguez picked Chris Owings off first to end the threat.