Dodgers finally get to Madison Bumgarner, then hang on for win over Diamondbacks

The crescendo rose, the familiar wall of noise building amid the nighttime horde, fans in the outfield bleachers at Dodger Stadium standing and waiting with open arms.

Then, nothing. Nada. Zilch. A disappointing quiet and a return to their seats.

The swell-turned-silence in the Dodgers’ 5-4 victory Monday night came first with Freddie Freeman, bombing a first-inning curveball from Madison Bumgarner deep to center field — only for the drive to float harmlessly into the glove of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Alek Thomas.

Ahhhhh — ohhhhhh.

Then with Mookie Betts in the third inning, crushing a pitch so high it seemed to touch the stadium lights protruding above left field — only for the ball to die at the track.

Ahhhhh — ohhhhhh.

Through four innings in Monday night’s series opener against the Diamondbacks, the home fans had no runs on the board to show for multiple balls that looked like home runs off the bat.

Perhaps it was just bad luck. Maybe the deadened balls. Or the humidors. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game that hitters were simply concerned they didn’t know quite what they were playing with.

But Freeman and Betts, turned away once, would not be denied. The duo scorched a pair of base hits that would key the win in a fifth-inning blast of catharsis, detonating when no home run dynamite would explode.

“Line drives always play,” Roberts said before the game.

For a while, it seemed as if no drives would play against Bumgarner. The horse-wrangling, left-handed nemesis was back on the mound at Dodger Stadium.

Before the game, Roberts said the Dodgers hadn’t faced Bumgarner in a couple of years. This wasn’t true, as the former World Series-winning San Francisco Giant started for Arizona at Dodger Stadium last May. But, in a sense, Roberts was right — Bumgarner had found his old dominant self this season after a couple of lost years thanks to a renewed pitch mix heavily reliant on the cutter.

“He’s given us fits over the past few years, so we have our work cut out,” the manager said.

He kept the Dodgers just off-balance enough, working his way through hard contact in the initial innings, wriggling his way out of a fourth-inning jam. To, audibly, the utter disgust of the greater Los Angeles area.

“You suck, Bumgarner!” multiple fans yelled, along with a deafening boo when his name was announced as part of the starting lineup.

But with the Dodgers down 2-0 in the fifth, Chris Taylor hit a double to left-center field. Austin Barnes walked, and after Gavin Lux popped out, Betts jumped on a first-pitch curveball from Bumgarner for a single. The crowd cheered, the line drive bouncing into center field.

Dodgers designated hitter Chris Taylor, right, celebrates with Max Muncy, left, after hitting a two-run home run as Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Jose Herrera stands at the plate during the sixth inning on Monday at Dodger Stadium.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

Then, in a flash, it skipped past Thomas. And four innings of home-crowd frustration erupted, eardrums shattering as Taylor and Barnes churned home and Betts pulled into third base.

Three pitches later, Freeman roped a four-seam fastball down the left-field line for a double.

Taylor added a two-run home run in the sixth off reliever Sean Poppen to stretch the Dodgers’ lead to 5-2.

With the Dodgers carrying that lead into the ninth, closer Craig Kimbrel induced some biting of nails, surrendering a two-run homer to David Peralta. He bounced back, however, to get the final two outs and close out the win.

It would be hard to complain with the Dodgers’ early-season offensive output — they led the majors in runs per game entering Monday. But a couple of key left-handed hitters, Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger, have gotten off to slow starts, thanks in part to aggressive defensive positioning.

Muncy and Bellinger, in particular, see a stacked right side of the infield almost every time they step in the box.

So for a short stint in batting practice Monday, the two set aside mighty swings for a quick seminar in bunting. Roberts called it “another tool in the toolbox.”

“I certainly think it’s going to add some hits,” the manager said.

Roberts was right.

Leading off the sixth, after already having dribbled a ball down an empty third base line for a hit in the second inning, Muncy stepped to the plate against another extreme shift. On the first pitch from Poppen, Muncy dropped a picture-perfect bunt down the line for another hit.

It was Muncy’s second hit — and neither traveled more than 90 feet.