TAMPA -- The Dodgers dealt with humidity, heat and their own inconsistency, but they ensured that their longest road trip of the second half would end on a positive note.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out six across 5 2/3 scoreless innings, and the bullpen was able to make a pair of RBI singles from Andy Pages and Freddie Freeman and a sacrifice fly from Mookie Betts hold up in a 3-0 victory over the Rays on Sunday afternoon.
After dropping two of three last weekend in Boston, the Dodgers beat the heat to win their series in Cincinnati and Tampa to clinch a winning road trip.
"It was tough," manager Dave Roberts said. "You try not to talk about it too much, and I was trying to mix and match the lineup as much as possible. But it was tough, especially on the back end of a 10-day road trip. You have two of the hotter cities in Cincinnati and Tampa, and a couple day games here."
Said Betts: "I never really thought I would miss West Coast weather like I do right now."
An injury cast a shadow over the victory, though, as Tommy Edman is likely to land on the injured list after spraining his right ankle while running to first base in the fifth inning.
Here are three takeaways from the series finale:
Staying hot
On a sweltering afternoon, Yamamoto did not cool down from his recent hot streak. After his strong performance against the Rays, the 26-year-old right-hander has combined to post a 1.93 ERA with 44 strikeouts against nine walks in his past seven starts (37 1/3 innings).
For many of his outings, Yamamoto has not had much margin for error. The same was true on Sunday, when the Dodgers went into the game averaging 4.1 runs per game started by Yamamoto, tied with Tyler Glasnow for the lowest on the team.
"Less run support doesn’t cause me to change my stuff," Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. "But when it’s a close game, I try to be fine and more precise, and execute my pitches."
Yamamoto said he put in work before the game to make sure he would be able to pitch successfully in the Tampa conditions. As for any in-game adjustments ...
"I changed my jersey and undershirt so many times," he said. "I got a lot of support from [his interpreter] Hiro."
Signs of life
From the sixth inning on Friday through the fifth on Sunday, the Dodgers had gone scoreless for 18 innings before Pages put his team on the board with an RBI knock to left in the sixth. One inning later, after Shohei Ohtani and Betts -- hitting first and second in the order -- pulled off a double steal to get in scoring position, Freeman padded L.A.'s lead by driving in Ohtani.
Betts contributed some additional insurance with a sacrifice fly to the edge of the outfield grass in left-center in the top of the ninth.
The Dodgers have admitted that they're not yet playing their best baseball, and the offense in particular has been streaky over the past month. It was promising that they were able to do the little things to get ahead.
"There's a lot of good things that happened today," Freeman said. "As much as we want to hit home runs every time, score 10 runs, [we] got to win games like this. And it's a good sign for us."
Another injury
Since returning from an IL stint due to right ankle inflammation on May 18, Edman has not been the same at the plate. He holds a .596 OPS in that span and has dealt with intermittent discomfort in the same ankle, tweaking it twice while running the bases.
Given how the ankle has continued to affect Edman, a stint on the IL where he's able to fully heal could be beneficial. Even so, it has been a frustrating situation.
"It’s a bummer," Edman said. "It’s tough, because I’m just trying to play the game hard, take advantage of certain situations. But it’s tough to do that when I don’t feel I have the stability I need."