Corbin fans 12 as D-backs sweep Dodgers

PHOENIX -- Chipper Jones tweeted out during Patrick Corbin's breakout season in 2013: "This Corbin dude is pretty nasty."
Arizona manager Torey Lovullo saw the same thing early Wednesday afternoon, telling pitching coach Mike Butcher and bench coach Jerry Narron that Corbin appeared to have no-hit stuff.
He was right. Only a bloop double got in the way.
Corbin gave up only one hit and struck out a career-high 12 in 7 1/3 innings of the D-backs' 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers, their third straight regular-season series sweep against the five-time defending NL West champions.
"This was a day all about Patrick Corbin," Lovullo said. "He executed pitch after pitch. He and [catcher] Jeff Mathis got in a great rhythm. I blinked my eyes and thought we were in the seventh inning.
"The fastball command and the secondary stuff was swing-and-miss, and that's not by mistake. He has great stuff."
Corbin retired the first 14 batters he faced before Matt Kemp blooped a double down the right-field line with two outs in the fifth inning. Corbin allowed only one other runner, walking Kemp with one out in the eighth before being replaced by Archie Bradley.
"Those things happen," Corbin said. "You can make your pitches and they can still get a hit. I was just trying to be consistent. Didn't shy away from that pitch, though, and it worked pretty well.
"Today just felt like everything came together."
The D-backs have won four straight series against the Dodgers, including a franchise-record nine straight regular-season games.
Corbin is 2-0 for the first time since 2013, when he won his first nine decisions en route to making the National League All-Star team. He missed the 2014 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery that spring and has since worked his way back.
He threw first-pitch strikes to 16 of the first 18 batters he faced Wednesday, while beating the Dodgers for the first time since Sept. 11, 2013.
"I was able to locate my fastball down and away and didn't really miss middle with it," Corbin said. "When I was able to do that, [I was able to] get ahead, and keep them off-balance with those breaking balls."

"That slider was tough," Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor said. "He was spotting it well. He was locating, got a lot of chase pitches out of the zone, and that made his fastball play up."
Corbin's previous career high in strikeouts was 10, done six times, the last against San Francisco last year on Aug. 6. He had never given up as few as one hit in a start this long.
"Throwing strikes and working that slider," said first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. "That's one of the best [outings] I've seen [from] him." 
Corbin has worked on taking a little off and putting a little on his slider, which can make it even more disruptive. His slider was clocked from the high-70 mph range to the mid-80s Wednesday.
"That's my pitch," he said. "Teams know that as well. Was able to throw that for a strike and bury it when I need to, and also throw a slow one, so there is three pitches right there, with technically the same pitch."

Corbin also had two of Arizona's seven hits, as he doubled and scored in the third inning to give the D-backs a 3-0 lead. He's just the third pitcher in the past 100 years with 12-plus strikeouts and two or more hits against the Dodgers, joining Dwight Gooden and Curt Schilling.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
That's what speed do: Jarrod Dyson impressed Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig with his aggressive baserunning in the first inning, earning a little nod of approval from Puig after stretching a single into a hustle double to lead off the last of the first inning.
Dyson just beat the throw to second, took third on a groundball to shortstop and scored on Paul Goldschmidt's grounder to third, the first of two runs the D-backs manufactured in the first two innings off left-hander Alex Wood.

"I slipped, so I was like in between going," Dyson said. "I said, 'Forget it. Go on. It has to be a good throw anyway'.
"That's what we do, baby. Get 'em over, get 'em in. We're playing great baseball right now. We're just trying to keep that going."
Arizona also scored in the second inning, after Chris Owings doubled, stole third with one out and scored on Deven Marrero's sacrifice fly.

"Those are the things we talk about in building innings," Lovullo said. "Giving up a little of your at-bats."
Also with the bat: Corbin had one more hit than the Dodgers, and is well on his way toward his 2017 hit total of seven. Normally a good hitter, Corbin hit .306 in 2016, but dipped to .125 last year. He has 14 career RBIs.
"I didn't hit very well last year, and it's something I wanted to do better this year," Corbin said. "It helps if we can get out there and have a long at-bat."
QUOTABLE
"We look at it in segments. The past three games we played good baseball. The first game trickled into the second game, and you look up and you defeated the defending National League champions three times. You have a lot to be proud of." -- Lovullo, on a three-game sweep of the Dodgers that included an 8-7, 15-inning victory on Tuesday, at five hours and 45 minutes for the longest home game in franchise history.
WHAT'S NEXT
The D-backs will kick off a nine-game road trip on Thursday, with the first game of a three-game series in St. Louis, the Cardinals' home opener. The D-backs made the playoffs with strong starting pitching last season, and are doing it again to open 2018. Robbie Ray will get the ball in Game 1 against the Cardinals.