| Joe Gutierrez. 23rd April, 2006 - 5:08 am
 The return of Nomar Garciaparra to the Dodger roster was welcoming, as Grady Little was finally able to assemble the lineup he had envisioned to place on the field Opening Day. However, Jae Seo allowed all five runs, enabling the Arizona Diamondbacks to beat the Dodgers 5-4.
Arizona right-hander Miguel Batista quieted the Dodgers’ offense through the first three innings. Of Los Angeles’ all four runs, Batista allowed three of them. 2B Orlando Hudson singled to center in the first, but tagged on a sacrifice fly by LF Luis Gonzalez. In the D-Backs’ second inning, they put two more runs on the board for a three-run lead.
C Johnny Estrada hit a solo shot to right field to start the second off. The Dodger killer in the series, 3B Chad Tracy, hit one up the middle for a base hit, scoring pitcher Batista. Seo was keeping the ball too high in the 3 ½ innings he went. The Diamondbacks scored their next two runs in the third and fourth innings on a single by SS Damian Easley and a double by Gonzalez.
Los Angeles appeared to be completely out of it until they finally put a run on the board in the fourth. Garciaparra smacked his first hit as a Dodger when he doubled to right field. LF Jose Cruz Jr. then sacrificed Garciaparra in to put LA within four.
The fifth inning proved to be a wake-up call to the lineup as the Dodgers scored two runs, giving them a score of 3-5, and a reasonable deficit to overcome. CF Kenny Lofton’s fielder’s choice scored pinch hitter Oscar Robles. 2B Jeff Kent grounded out but scored Lofton from third.
Down by two in the sixth, pinch hitter Ricky Ledee doubled to center scoring Cruz Jr., as three D-Backs tumbled down attempting to catch the pop up. LA’s comeback was short-lived while Jose Valverde came into the ninth, and struck out the side in order to give the Dodgers their tenth loss of the season.
Final Score: Dodgers 4, Diamondbacks 5
Coming Up
The Dodgers will try and win the series Sunday by sending Brett Tomko to the mound against the winless Russ Ortiz
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