No broom at the end as Smith's homer rescues Dodgers

Catcher comes off the bench to slug walk-off shot that averts sweep by the Diamondbacks.

- JACK HARRIS

CARLIN STIEHL Los Angeles Times PINCH-HITTER Will Smith screams with emotion after blasting his winning homer on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday was gut-check time for the Dodgers.

A day where, as a clearly frustrated Dave Roberts put it before the game, the team needed to "not get embarrassed" in the face of a potential three-game sweep by the Arizona Diamondbacks, and play with a level of "pride" that had been missing the previous two nights.

"Whatever it is, we've got to do it right now," the manager said. "We've got to win today. We've got to play better baseball.... There's more in there. There just is."

Whatever Roberts was looking for, the Dodgers provided just enough Sunday.

Despite blowing a three-run lead that tied the score going into the ninth, the Dodgers prevailed on Will Smith's pinch-hit, walk-off home run, beating the Diamondbacks 5-4 to move two games up in the National League West standings after the San Diego Padres' rubber-match loss to the Minnesota Twins earlier in the day.

The win should have been simpler.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered a seven-inning, one-run gem, tying his career-high with 10 strikeouts while also not issuing a walk.

The Dodgers lineup, meanwhile, wore down Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt, scoring twice in the first and again in the fourth and fifth to chase him from the game early.