Diamondbacks Stifle Dodgers for Massive Series-Opening Win

If the Arizona Diamondbacks wanted to come away with a four-game series victory over their rival Los Angeles Dodgers at Chase Field, they certainly played like it Monday night.

Arizona's pitching staff stifled the Dodgers' imposing offense in front of a packed Chase Field crowd. Home runs off the bats of Tommy Troy, Nolan Arenado and Ketel Marte provided the entirety of the Diamondbacks' offense. It was just enough for a hard-fought 4-1 victory over Los Angeles.

"You want to come out and set a tone and win the first game of the series," manager Torey Lovullo said postgame.

"We got [the Dodgers] for four days, and I couldn't be more proud of this group. We were grinding through some early innings, maybe a little bit of a hangover from the trip up to Seattle. Sheehan had some really good stuff, but we just kept hanging in there, we kept fighting."

Eduardo Rodriguez delivers another quality start

May 21, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez (57) pitches against the Colorado Rockies during the first inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

It was not an easy day at the office for Eduardo Rodriguez, but you'd never be able to tell that by his pitching line. The left-hander labored heavily in the early going, fending off base traffic, allowing an earned run in the third inning and scraping his way through with the help of some quality infield defense.

"We made some nice defensive plays behind [Rodriguez], but he pounded the zone. He set his tone with his fastball and then went to work and started pitching from there," Lovullo said. "Overall, this day was set up by E-Rod and finished by some really heady, smart baseball plays."

Rodriguez buckled down to throw his seventh Quality Start of the season. He allowed just the one earned run over the course of six innings, striking out three against one walk and five base hits. Two doubles in that troublesome third inning were the only blemish.

Rodriguez threw 62 of his 96 pitches for strikes. Though the pitch count was high early on, Rodriguez was able to fight through a lengthy-enough start to provide an easy path to Arizona's bullpen — which shut the Dodgers out in three dominant innings.

Right-hander Taylor Clarke bounced back from his Dodger Stadium blowup with two strikeouts in a clean seventh. Left-hander Brandyn Garcia cut through the heart of Los Angeles' order with a double play that erased Shohei Ohtani's ground ball single from the basepaths.

Closer Paul Sewald collected his 15th save of the season with a 1-2-3 innings — and two rare ground ball outs from Mookie Betts and Kyle Tucker. It took the Diamondbacks' bullpen a total of 32 pitches (23 strikes) to secure the win, with just one collective baserunner allowed.

Diamondbacks' Tommy Troy hits first homer to kick off offense

May 24, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks right fielder Tommy Troy (9) hits a double against Colorado Rockies pitcher Jose Quintana (62) in the second inning at Chase Field. It was Tommy Troy’s first MLB career hit. Mandatory Credit: Anna Carrington-Imagn Images | Anna Carrington-Imagn Images

The Diamondbacks' offense was held scoreless through the first five frames. Then, No. 4 prospect Tommy Troy crushed his first career home run to tie the game at 1-1 off righty Emmett Sheehan in the sixth.

"I knew it was enough [to leave the park]," Troy said following the game. "Felt surreal, it was great, it was really good, I loved it."

"I feel like it's more important that we got the first one out of the way for this week and we can keep building off of that."

Arizona would score all of its runs via the long ball. Nolan Arenado hit a solo blast to take the lead in the seventh, then Ketel Marte blasted a two-run homer (after a heads-up bunt single by Troy) to give Arizona a three-run cushion. Troy finished his night 2-for-3 and scored two of Arizona's four runs.

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