Dodgers plagued by pitching struggles, defensive mistakes in loss to Arizona

Dodgers pitcher Brock Stewart watches Arizona's Tim Tawa runs the bases after hitting a two-run home run in the fourth inning of the Dodgers' 9-3 loss Friday at Dodger Stadium. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)The Dodgers suffered a deflating 9-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium on Friday to start their final series before the All-Star break.But if there was a silver lining to the Dodgers rough performance, it was that superstar Shohei Ohtani looked fine at designated hitter after being scratched from his scheduled start because of irritation in his left knee.

Ohtani, will not participate in next week’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia, hit a leadoff home run off Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez.“I found out yesterday morning,” Roberts said of Ohtani’s injury. “So if there’s a chance that we could kind of be proactive and get it drained and do whatever we need to do to try to manage it, along with the rest for the All-Star break, we were gonna do that.

“But obviously the way he’s swinging the bat hasn’t really affected performance,” Roberts added. “We have certainly curtailed the stealing bases. But he feels good, obviously, and he’s gonna be DH’ing the next three games.”

Read more:Kiké Hernández on why he'll miss Dodgers' White House visitThe Diamondbacks took advantage of the Dodgers’ bullpen game — and three defensive errors.Right-handed pitcher Kyle Hurt opened and surrendered two runs on three hits through 1⅔ innings.Arizona’s Ketel Marte and Geraldo Perdomo opened the game with base hits.

Corbin Carroll grounded into a force out at second, moving Marte to third, before Gabriel Moreno singled on a liner to right that scored Marte. Carroll then scored on an errant throw to third from Kyle Tucker that went into the Dodgers’ dugout.After Ohtani hit his 21st homer of the season, Andy Pages hit a tying 419-foot blast to left-center for his 17th homer.

But that was all the Dodgers (61-34) would score against Rodriguez, who gave up seven hits and str