Diamondbacks Pounce on Dodgers Pitching to Take Series Opener

The Arizona Diamondbacks took advantage of the soft underbelly of the Dodgers rotation by hitting three homers, each with a man on base, powering their way to a 9-5 victory. Brandon Pfaadt recorded a quality start.

The first three innings could not have gone any better for the Diamondbacks. The Dodgers made a late switch, going with left-hander Jack Dreyer as the opener, with the plan to bring in right-hander Landon Knack as the bulk pitcher.

The D-backs scored two quick runs in the first inning, and another in the third. It was mostly soft contact and small ball, as the runs scored on a bloop double (Eugenio Suarez), an RBI ground out (Josh Naylor) and a sacrifice fly (Geraldo Perdomo).

Once Knack came into the game in the third, the D-backs powered up, sending nine men to the plate and scoring four runs. The big blows were a couple of two-run homers by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno.

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Moreno's homer was especially notable because he had previously been having trouble pulling the ball in the air this year. Lately however he had hit several rope line drives and it felt like only a matter of time before he started elevating the ball.

Speaking to Jody Jackson of Dbacks.TV Moreno said "I've been working a lot this year.J ust looking to find my approach, my timing to get on time. I've been feeling good. Just got to keep working and that's that."

The D-backs had a chance to get more off of Knack in the fourth inning after a Corbin Carroll leadoff triple, his league-leading sixth of the year. But two popups and a groundout later, that run was stranded. Knack went on to throw four scoreless innings through the seventh following his rough third inning.

One side note was Moreno's leadoff at-bat against Knack in the fifth inning. He tied a franchise record with 16-pitch at bat before lining out to right field. It had been done three times prior, by Pavin Smith in 2021, Rusty Ryal in 2010, and Karim Garcia in 1998.

Just when it looked like the D-backs were done scoring, Geraldo Perdomo knocked a fly ball over the right center field wall for the third two-run homer of the game.

Pfaadt meanwhile had a strange outing. He retired the first ten men he faced, working fast and ahead by firing eight of 10 first pitch strikes. The first Dodgers hit was a solo homer on a center cut sweeper off the bat of Mookie Betts in the fourth.

The longball bit Pfaadt again in the sixth inning. Shohei Ohtani hit a sweeper on the opposite black of the plate into the left field bleachers for a solo homer. Betts followed with his second homer of the night on a curveball hung in the middle of the plate.

Incredibly Pfaadt did not strike out a batter, and did not even induce one whiff on 42 swings. It was Pfaadt first career win without a strikeout. He walked just one, however, and threw 95 pitches, 60 for strikes. The three homers were the only hits he allowed, and he earned a quality start for his efforts. He ended the night with a 7-3 record and 3.81 ERA.

Torey Lovullo said Pfaadt "was attacking the zone. He gave up three solo home runs. To me, that's the name of the game. The Dodgers are going to bang the baseball around, he just can't put anybody on via the walk, try and limit hits, which he did. Keep yourself in the game. He was making pitches and stayed on the attack and did a really nice job"

Pfaadt received excellent defensive support. Tim Tawa made a tremendous running catch to the wall in right-center in the second. Eugenio Suarez made several tough plays at third. And Corbin Carroll recovered from getting spun around to snare a screeching liner off the bat of Teoscar Hernandez.

Juan Morillo and Scott McGough each threw a scoreless inning. But Ryan Thompson, getting the ninth inning, had another bad outing. He gave up a double, failed to cover first on an infield single, then gave up a two-out walk and a base hit. That allowed to Dodgers to close to within 9-5 and forced Torey Lovullo to go to his closer, Shelby Miller, for the second game in a row.

It was the fourth time in his last five games that Thompson allowed a run. His ERA has ballooned up to 7.50.

Miller induced a game-ending groundout to record his fifth save in seven chances.

The D-backs improve to 26-22, and the Dodgers fall to 29-19. Game two of the series is Tuesday night at 7:10 p.m. Ryne Nelson will start for Arizona and Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets the ball for Los Angeles.