Big Home Runs Back Terrific Pfaadt Start, D-backs Beat Dodgers

Brandon Pfaadt once again was outstanding on the mound and the Diamondbacks slugged a couple key home runs to beat Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Dodgers.

May 8, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt (32) throws in the fourth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images / Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

The Arizona Diamondbacks took the opening game against the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 at Chase Field. It marked the first time in 16 series that Arizona defeated their National League West rival in the series-opening game.

Brandon Pfaadt once again delivered his typical Quality Start, going 6.1 scoreless innings against the Dodgers. Needing some length to help a tired bullpen, the right-hander gave the Diamondbacks everything they needed and then some. Pfaadt held Los Angeles to just four hits, all singles, walked three, and struck out six.

"Felt good tonight," Pfaadt told Arizona Diamondbacks on SI's Jack Sommers. "I think we had a lot of things working on both sides of the plate, and we were able to use that whether that was fastball or offspeed."

While the Dodgers got some loud contact off him, with six batted balls of at least 100 MPH, the Diamondbacks' defense was sharp enough to withstand it. Alek Thomas chased down a couple of those hard-hit balls in center field and Ketel Marte made a leaping snag to rob Michael Conforto of a possible extra-base hit and RBI to end the fourth.

"The defense was great. Alek in center tracked down some pretty hard-hit balls and Ketel turned a nice double play there at the end. I think everybody came to play today."

Facing Yoshinobu Yamamoto, one of the early frontrunners for the National League Cy Young Award, the Diamondbacks were more than up for the challenge. They got to Yamamoto in the fourth, capitalizing on poor command from the Dodgers' ace. Pavin Smith opened the frame with a walk, Naylor singled up the middle despite a Mookie Betts diving stop, and Eugenio Suárez was hit by an 0-2 pitch to load the bases.

That set the stage for Gabriel Moreno, who jumped ahead 2-0 in the count. Yamamoto made his first mistake of the night, a flat cutter that rolled to the middle of the zone, and Moreno capitalized with a 105 MPH drive that cleared the wall in right center.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto had allowed just 4 earned runs all season. #Dbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno just doubled that with this swing of the bat. Arizona leads 4-0.pic.twitter.com/e22o7SxyS4

— Michael McDermott (@MichaelMcDMLB) May 9, 2025

"We built an inning against a very stubborn, tough pitcher who's been dealing lately," said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. "Once you build it, you got to have the right guys come up and Gabi with an unbelievable approach with a line drive home run over the right center wall. That tells you that your swing is tight. You don't hit balls out there by accident, you don't hit it well opposite field, against traffic like that, so it was really nice to see him get off on the pitch he was looking for and do some damage on it."

With one swing of the bat, not only did Moreno connect for his first home run of the season, but he instantly doubled Yamamoto's earned run total for the season. It turned what started as a pitching duel into a 4-0 lead.

Marte then added to the lead in the following inning. The Diamondbacks star second baseman has struggled since coming off the injured list last weekend, going 2-for-18 with a lot of ground ball contact, but he connected on another Yamamoto cutter for a line drive home run to push the lead to 5-0. It was Marte's first long ball of the year as well.

Between the two home runs, the Diamondbacks scored more earned runs in this game than Yamamoto allowed all season. His ERA doubled from 0.90 to 1.80. It was also the first time they've beaten the Dodgers' ace, as he was 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA against them in two starts last season.

Following Pfaadt's terrific outing, Jalen Beeks came on to finish the seventh. He struck out both hitters he faced, including Shohei Ohtani. Beeks looked extra amped against the reigning National League MVP winner, hitting 97 MPH on his four-seamer and getting back-to-back whiffs on changeups to put him away.

While Arizona got out to a pretty sizeable lead early, they still had opportunities to put the game away offensively. In both the sixth and seventh innings, the Diamondbacks had a leadoff double but stranded them. Following the Moreno grand slam, they collectively went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. That kept the Dodgers and their potent offense in the game.

That nearly came back to bite them in the eighth inning. Juan Morillo came in against his former club and struggled with his command. The Dodgers came through on a Max Muncy RBI double and Andy Pages RBI single to bring the potential tying run to the plate. Conforto tried to split the hole between first and second, but Marte made a terrific stop and jump throw to start a game-saving double play. The call was confirmed by replay after a Dodgers challenge.

"That particular play, I've seen Ketel work on it," said Lovullo. "He's talked to me specifically about jumping and throwing the ball overhand and it getting away from him, he drops to a low three-quarter slot. This is a discussion we had in Spring Training, this was a discussion we had the first week of the season before he got hurt, and then he went out there and did it. Those are great moments between a player and a coach, and he goes out there and gets us out of a jam."

Kevin Ginkel came on for the final three outs. While he served up a meaningless home run to Ohtani, he retired the other three hitters to earn his first save of the year.

The Diamondbacks will try to pick up their second win of the series against the Dodgers. Left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez (1-3, 5.92 ERA) takes the mound for Arizona while Los Angeles will tab right-hander Roki Sasaki (1-1, 3.86 ERA). First pitch at Chase Field will be at 6:40 p.m., with the Diamondbacks debuting their new City Connect jerseys.