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Game Summary

The Diamondbacks showed a little more fight compared to their campaign opening loss last night, but still came up short at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium (ugh). Ryne Nelson started the game for the good guys against Emmet Sheehan and very-much-bad-not-good-at-all guys, and it was a bit of a mixed bag for our talented righty. Ryne finished the night with a line very similar to Zac’s from last night, a not incredibly impressive 4 ER over 4.2 IP. Nelson did leave a better taste in our mouth than Zac did thanks to Nelly’s 4 runs all coming in the 3rd before he bounced back and retired the last 7 hitters he faced, compared with Zac mowing the Dodgers down for 4 innings then getting lit up at the end. Nelson has room for improvement, but this was largely a good start for him and I imagine it will be somewhat easier to limit his blow-up innings against teams that don’t stack 8 straight All Stars at the top of the lineup.

The offense showed more punch than the night before as well, but for as many opportunities as they gave themselves with the bat, they took away some key opportunities with mistakes on the base paths. Pavin Smith getting sent from first to home should be something on the Do Not Do list given out to the coaches when pitchers and catchers report in February, but apparently our third base coach was feeling froggy and wasted a prime scoring opportunity in the second by sending Pavin to his doom on Alek Thomas’ first RBI double of the evening. Then, Alek undid his own good when he tried to stretch an RBI double into a triple in the fourth inning. It wasn’t the last out of the inning, and he did actually beat the throw, but having Alek at second with one out and a potential to flip the order over would’ve been a favorable outcome for the Snakes.

The defense was again pretty solid, with the only real miscue being Gabi’s throw into centerfield when trying to throw out a stealing Kyle Tucker, but that didn’t end up hurting the team’s chances. The bullpen was mostly brilliant for the second night in a row, with a single pitcher allowing a run that wound up being the difference on the night. While Loaisiga and Thompson looked solid, almost brilliant, Ginkel and his diminished fastball velocity made one mistake too many and cost his team the game. Giving up a leadoff double to the only Dodger not expected to be an All-Star this year was the death knell as the Dodgers ‘fundamentaled’ the go ahead run in with Shohei’s grounder to second advancing the runner to third and Tucker putting the ball perfectly into the hole between Ketel and Santana to put the Dodgers ahead in the 8th.

Coming into the 8th inning, the Dodgers had scored 4 runs on 2 hits. The D-Backs had quadrupled that hit total, but had still only scored the same 4 runs. The margin for error against this squad is too small for the D-Backs to afford making extra outs on the bases or giving up costly hits to the 9-hole hitter (2-3 with a 2B and HR). Make one mistake and that is all they need.

Loss Probability and Box Score

Outside the Box Score

• Geraldo Perdomo greeted home plate umpire Corey Blaser as he walked up to home plate for his first at bat of the ballgame and lingered a little while longer than perhaps is usual with him. Blaser was the umpire who called Perdomo out with that now infamous low Strike 3 call to end the Dominican game against USA in the WBC just a couple weeks ago. Appears all is water under the bridge at this point and Blaser even gave Domo the benefit of a borderline pitch in a 2-strike count later on in the AB, but Will Smith successfully challenged resulting in a strikeout.
• Ryne Nelson couldn’t quite match Emmet Sheehan’s 3 strikeouts in the first inning, but he buckled both Shohei and Tucker with beautiful knee-high sliders to ꓘ them starting off the game. Mookie put the first ball in play of the whole game with a soft lineout to Corbin in right.
• Alek Thomas delivered a moneyball line drive into the corner in right field with runners at first and second in the second inning. Unfortunately, Pitters immediately went into flashbacks of last season when our third base coach sent Pavin trundling home where he was a dead duck for the third out of the inning. On the bright side, Gabi did score to give the Snakes a 1-run lead, but it’s really annoying to be giving baserunners away yet again in 2026.
• Ketel Marte’s homer off Sheehan came on a 3-0 fastball that was absolutely tanked into the right field bleachers. 107.2 mph off the bat and 391 feet.
• Gabi got his first ABS reversal of the season (I think?) during Shohei’s second AB of the night when Ryne missed his spot and flew a pitch to the far side of the plate. The pitch was completely inside the strike zone but called a ball because, as it has for generations, when a pitcher wildly misses his spot he loses the benefit of the doubt. This type of situation is exactly what I’m most excited for ABS to correct. The borderline pitches that could go either way don’t usually bother me too much, but the obvious balls/strikes that are missed are what I want to see addressed and glad they can be now.
• Nelson had Kyle Tucker struck out in the bottom of the third on a foul tip, but Gabi couldn’t hang on to the tip so Tucker got new life. The next three pitches were all balls and Tucker earned a free pass. That set the table for Mookie’s three run bomb a couple pitches later.
• Weird factoid: the first groundball of the entire ball game didn’t come until the last out of the third inning when Will Smith grounded out to Domo. That was the 27th plate appearance of the game!
• Pavin Smith earned full count walks in both of his first 2 plays appearances. I’d bet that both of the called Ball 4s could’ve been challenged and overturned to Strike 3. We’ll take it!
• After our third base coach, apparently with the last name of House per the fellow Pitters in the GDT, sent Pavin from first to home on a double into the right field corner, there was some banter about Pavin and House combining for more buffoonery when he got a leadoff walk in the fourth. To my horror, Carlos Santana roped a double into the right field corner just like what happened in the second inning. Thankfully for my heart health, House learned his lesson and held Pavin at third to set the table for Alek’s 2-RBI double (thrown out when he overslid the bag trying to stretch it into a triple).
• Jonathan Loaisiga made his D-Backs debut in the fifth to face Kyle Tucker with 2 outs and the bases empty. Loaisaga made him look silly finishing him off with 3 nasty changeups to end the inning. I’m really excited for what he could bring to the team.
• In Ketel’s at bat in the top of the 6th inning, he was spun around to the right side against Alex Vesia where Ketel is known for his extremely hard swings. In the AB he got a line drive single to left that wasn’t particularly astonishing, but his recorded swing speed was 83.1mph which was the fastest of the game to that point (the second fastest swing for either team was his HR swing earlier in the game, nearly 5.5mph slower at 77.7mph). Interestingly, Corbin Carroll topped that high swing speed in the very next AB with 83.5mph.

Comment of the Game

It wasn’t Opening Night levels, but the GDT was still well populated, finishing at 267 comments at time of publishing. Many went Sedona Red, but first COTG for the season goes to VW Beetle with a game-leading number of Recs with his reaction to Alek’s hit and the base coach assisted TOOTBLAN in the second inning:

Coming Up

The Diamondbacks face the Dodgers for the third and final game of this series tomorrow night at 6:10pm. WBC hero – and the Snakes only LHP – Eduardo Rodriguez will be on the mound trying to stave off a season-opening sweep, while the Fighting Guggenheims counter with Tyler Glasnow. Tune in and join the GDT to give the recapper Dano some company.

Tonight’s game started off on a sour note, with another first-inning bomb from Guardians rookie Chase DeLauter, already his third on the season. It seemed to foreshadow a replay of last night’s loss. But the next batter flipped the vibes, as Cole Young went full extension to corral a hard-hit grounder from Jose Ramírez and get things back on track for Mariners starter George Kirby.

Kirby settled down from there, kicking off a run of retiring 11 of 12 batters with five strikeouts. In some ways, he looked like vintage Kirby, with pinpoint command and touching 98 at times. In other ways, it was an unusual performance for him. He went to his four-seamer almost 50% of the time, about twice as much as last year. The fact that the Guardians’ major threats batted from the left side help explain why Kirby left his sinker on the shelf, and the DeLauter dinger coming on a terrible slider may explain Kirby’s hesitance to return to that pitch. He’s also deliberately trying to use his curveball against opposite-handed hitters more this year.

“[The curveball] is a great weapon, especially against the lefties to start the count or finish it,” he said after the game. “But we were aggressive with heaters, and using the curve just to kind of change their sights a little bit and then go back to the heat. But yeah, the curveball is one pitch I really want to rely on to lefties. Good strike pitch, good strikeout pitch. And the more I throw it, the better it is.”

The plan faltered in the fifth inning, when Kirby gave up rare back-to-back walks to open the inning and, an out later, hit a batter. But for as much as the tension rose in the moment, Kirby says he didn’t feel it: “For me right now the biggest thing is to find a way to get back in control and stay in control. Those runners out there in that situation were the least of my worries. Just go attack the hitter – I think it was Kwan at the time – these guys are on, flush it, get back in control and attack from there. So I feel like I’ve made a big step in that side of my game.”

The result was inducing an easy fly ball to shallow left. A baffling baserunning decision by Rhys Hoskins turned it into the easiest double play of Randy Arozarena’s career—just the way Randy likes it—and the end of the threat.

Kirby came back out for one more three-up-three-down inning to finish the night with six strikeouts, two walks, and just two hits and one run on 90 pitches. After an uneven 2025, this was a very promising first start to 2026 for him.

He also left with the lead thanks to the bottom half of the Mariners lineup. It was another quiet night for the heart of the order, with a meaningless walk from Julio Rodríguez the only time he reached base, Cal Raleigh wearing a golden sombrero, and Josh Naylor also sporting a goose egg for his batting line. But at least Randy Arozarena recovered from last night’s torpor, catalyzing the guys behind him a couple times.

He worked a four-pitch walk in the fourth inning, inspiring Dominic Canzone to do the same. With those two runners on base, Cole Young fouled off two belt-high fastballs in a row. Finding himself in an 0-2 count to a pitcher who’d been struggling with command all game could have overwhelmed Cole Young. He says he “definitely” could not have stayed on top of a 97-mph heater in an 0-2 count last year. But this isn’t last year. Crediting a new routine and his work with machines that simulate a given pitcher’s spin, he feels he’s better able to execute. And that’s just what he did, taking the third pitch into the seats for his first home run of the season to make the score 3-1.

Two innings later, Randy led off with another walk, once again never even feinting that he might swing. But if he was a statue in the box, he was anything but once he reached first base, dancing around like a silent disco with long, fidgety, start-and-stop leads. It seemed to get Guardians reliever Colin Holderman shook, leading to him leaving a very tempting middle-middle cutter to Luke Raley, who drove it out of the deep part of the park. It’s worth noting that Raley pulled that off after attempting a bunt earlier in the at-bat. The delightfulness of that juxtaposition and his earlier 110-mph fly out earns Luke Raley this season’s first Sun Hat Award, an award I give out in my recaps to a player who makes a noteworthy individual contribution to the game.

Kirby’s having pitched that extra sixth inning after seeming to lose it a bit in the fifth meant that the Mariners could use just three relievers tonight, saving arms for the rest of the series. We were treated to the season’s first appearances by Eduard Bazardo, Matt Brash, and Andrés Muñoz, who each allowed a harmless single as they get themselves dialed in and were otherwise the reliable arms you hope for at the back of a bullpen. The biggest highlight of the back three innings was Julio instituting the No Fly Zone in earnest for the first time this season, with a front slide and slick wrist work to wrangle in a ball in the no man’s land behind the infield.

Julio might still be looking for his first hit, but he can’t have one, he’s making damn sure no one else can have one either.

That play helped lock down the 5-1 win as the Mariners look to get over .500 in Game 3 and stay there for another 159 games after that.

The Dodgers must have wanted to hear the trumpets on Friday night.

Because right as new closer Edwin Díaz began to warm up with the score tied in the bottom of the eighth inning, their previously slumbering lineup finally came back to life.

In a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers gave what had been a slog of a game a high-octane (and high-priced) finish.

To break the 4-4 tie, Alex Freeland hit a leadoff double and came around to score on a go-ahead RBI single from Kyle Tucker, his first signature moment since signing a $240 million deal this winter. 

That set the stage for the top of the ninth, when Díaz’s iconic, trumpet-filled entrance song “Narco” was performed  by live trumpeter Tatiana Tate out in left field. 

Díaz took care of the inning, recording his first Dodgers save since inking his own $69 million blockbuster contract this offseason.

And all the offensive frustration that had been building up before then was quickly negated, handing the Dodgers a series win to open their pursuit of a third-straight World Series. 

“The two acquisitions this offseason,” manager Dave Roberts said, “came up big tonight.”

Before the late theatrics, the Dodgers (2-0) had struggled to generate much at the plate.

Their first hit didn’t come until the third inning, when Freeland –– fresh off beating out Hyeseong Kim for the final spot on the roster this spring –– hit a solo home run.

Three batters later, Mookie Betts cranked an opposite-field shot for a three-run homer, turning an early two-run deficit into a two-run lead.

But after that, the Dbacks (0-2) retired 14 Dodgers hitters in a row, preserving what had become a 4-4 tie after Alek Thomas’ two-run double in the fourth.

That left a big task for the Dodgers’ bullpen, which was called into action early after starter Emmet Sheehan pitched only 3 ⅓ innings. Each arm they turned to, however, put a zero on the scoreboard; culminating in the playing of trumpets and a second-straight Dodgers season-opening win.

What it means

So far, so good for the Dodgers’ two marquee offseason signings.

In addition to his game-winning hit in the eighth, Tucker had two outfield assists on relay plays with Freeland at second. He also followed his eight-inning single with a stolen base, advancing all the way to third on a bad throw.

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Díaz, meanwhile, was able to skirt around trouble in the ninth, stranding a runner at second after a one-out walk and stolen base from Thomas.

He collected two strikeouts in his outing, and ended the game on a groundout from All-Star Ketel Marte.

Who’s hot

Freeland didn’t hit much during the spring, winning a platoon job at second base despite a .125 Cactus League batting average.

But in his first regular-season start Friday, the 24-year-old rookie validated the team’s faith.

His third-inning home run came after he fell behind in the count 0-2 against Ryne Nelson, only to lay off a couple pitches and launch an inside fastball to the right-field pavilion. 

After that, he added his eighth-inning double on a line drive to the right-center field gap, setting up the game-winning rally. 

“I wasn’t thinking about any of the outside noise,” said Freeland, whose inclusion on the roster over Kim caused consternation from some corners of the fan base. “I just tried to have a quality at-bat, like I’ve been doing all spring. So nothing really changed.”

Who’s not

Sheehan was playing catch-up all spring, both with his pitching progression (thanks to an illness that put him behind schedule early in camp) and with his fastball velocity (which was a couple ticks below his average of 95.6 mph from last year).

In his season debut Friday, it showed. After striking out the side in the first, Sheehan gave up runs in the second (on a Thomas double) and third (on a Marte 3-0 homer) before allowing two runners to reach in the fourth –– and being removed with his limited pitch count already up to 83.

The right-hander’s fastball velocity remained down, averaging just 94 mph. And while he finished with six strikeouts, he also allowed five hits, two walks and four runs, with the runners he left behind coming around to score against Jack Dreyer.

“I think it’s just my delivery is a little bit off,” Sheehan said. “But we’re working hard on it, so it’s going to get right. I know it will.”

Up next

The Dodgers go for a series sweep on Saturday, when Tyler Glasnow will make his season debut following a promising performance this spring. The Dbacks will counter with left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, the veteran pitcher who infamously nixed a trade to the Dodgers at the 2023 deadline.

Edwin Diaz made his debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Arizona Diamondbacks on March 27, and part of the anticipation was how the All-Star closer would get to the pitcher’s mound.

With his signature, epic entrance — that's how.

Following a tradition he started in 2018, Diaz entered the field from the outfield bullpen, then headed to the pitcher’s mound to the sound of trumpets as his walk-out song "Narco" played over the stadium speakers. Diaz struck out two batters to close out the 5-4 win.

For the past three years, he did it at Citi Field as a member of the New York Mets. On March 27, he unveiled the walk-out ritual at Dodger Stadium.

After the pomp and circumstance that came from the Dodgers’ second consecutive ring night, the Dodgers had a close affair on Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, pulling away late to win 5-4.

Emmet Sheehan made his first start of the season, and he made quick work of the first three Arizona hitters by striking out the side in order. The final one of the inning was initially called a ball, but Will Smith issued a challenge and the Dodgers won their first ABS challenge in team history.

Arizona began the top of the second inning by putting their first two hitters on base via a single from Gabriel Moreno and a walk to Pavin Smith. Sheehan managed to strike out Nolan Arenado and get Carlos Santana to fly out, but Alek Thomas got the Diamondbacks in front early with an RBI double that could’ve scored two, but a great relay from Kyle Tucker and Alex Freeland caught Smith at the plate. Arizona padded their lead to two as Ketel Marte launched a line drive home run to right field in the top of the third inning on a 3-0 fastball from Sheehan.

Arizona right-hander Ryne Nelson was one out away from keeping the Dodgers at bay over the first time through the lineup, but Alex Freeland got one of the two runs back with a towering home run to right field— a little thank you to Dave Roberts for adding him to the opening day roster. Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker both walked against Nelson to put the potential tying and go-ahead runners on base, and Mookie Betts, who homered twice on ring night last year, crushed a go-ahead three-run home run to right-center field to give the Dodgers their third four-run inning over their first 11 innings on offense.

Sheehan struggled again in his second time facing the bottom half of Arizona’s lineup, as he allowed his second walk to Smith and a double to Carlos Santana to put the tying run in scoring position. Sheehan was pulled after tossing 83 pitches over just 3 1/3 innings of work, allowing two earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out six. Jack Dreyer came in relief of Sheehan, and Thomas once again made the Dodgers pay with his second double of the night, this time driving in two and tying the game, but Thomas overran the third base bag going for a triple and was tagged out.

Arizona threatened to retake the lead in the top of the sixth inning, as Ben Casparius allowed two baserunners while recording just two outs in the top of the sixth inning. Dave Roberts went to Tanner Scott for the second day in a row, needing him to put away Thomas with the go-ahead run at second base. The gamble paid off, and Scott struck him out to get the Dodgers out of the jam.

Both Alex Vesia and Edgardo Henríquez tossed a scoreless inning as the bullpen kept the Diamondbacks off the board after the second double from Thomas. The Dodgers couldn’t supply anything offensively after the home run from Betts, going hitless over their next 14 at-bats against Nelson and the Arizona bullpen. Freeland snapped the hitless skid to begin the bottom of the eighth inning with a ringing double to the right-center field gap. Ohtani moved him over to third on a groundout, and Tucker lined a ball into right field past a drawn in infield to put the Dodgers back on top by a run.

This set up the perfect opportunity for Edwin Díaz to make his Dodger debut, and emerged from the left field bullpen to the blaring sounds of “Narco” by Timmy Trumpet for the first time at his new home. Díaz put the tying run on base, but struck out two and tossed a scoreless inning to pick up his first save as a Dodger and help his new squad take the series from Arizona.

The Dodgers last season started the year 8-0. They are a quarter of the way there this time around.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Ketel Marte (1); Alex Freeland (1), Mookie Betts (1)
• WP— Edgardo Henríquez (1-0): 1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout
• LP— Kevin Ginkel (0-1): 1 IP, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts
• SV— Edwin Díaz (1): 1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers wrap things up against Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday before an off-day on Sunday, with a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians beginning the following day. Tyler Glasnow makes his first start of the season against left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez.

Can’t win them all, I suppose. Although, tonight was a frustrating game in the fashion of the summer 2025 Guardians. Gavin Williams took the mound this evening and really struggled to find the zone. He threw a measly 31% of his pitches in the strike zone, per Statcast. The good news is he generated 15 whiffs! His stuff also looked fantastic across the board, just would’ve been nice if said stuff could’ve been located in that lovely white box that appears on the television. Gavin’s sweeper, especially, looked fantastic tonight. He seems to have tweaked that pitch this offseason, and is now more consistently throwing it east-west.

Some more good news as Chase DeLauter homered AGAIN in his first at-bat tonight, an almost exact replica of his first home run in the opening night game.

Per MLB researcher Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports on X), DeLauter is the third player since (at least) 1900 to record 3 home runs in their first two career regular season games. The most recent player was Trevor Story in 2016.

Anyway, Gavin’s command struggles eventually came back to bite him when he surrendered a 3-run homer to Cole Young (native Clevelander, of course) in the fourth.

Speaking of struggles, the Guardians loaded the bases in the top of the 5th with only 1 out. Hoskins and Naylor walked, and Rocchio was hit by a pitch. Kwan stepped to the plate, weakly flew out to left and, well, if you didn’t watch it live, I’ll let you watch it now.

Oops!

The Guardians offense was much less fun to watch than it was last night, unfortunately. All good things must come to an end.

DeLauter did have a weird play in the field in the 3rd. Leo Rivas hit a fly ball near the foul line in right, DeLauter seemed to have caught it in his glove, but then dropped it right after. Rivas was awarded a triple.

Newly minted Guardians reliever Colin Holderman came into the game in the 6th and promptly gave up a 2-run homer. Oops!

Another newly minted Guardians reliever Peyton Pallette (Rule 5 pick from the White Sox) made his Guardians debut today, and it went far better than Holderman’s. Pitched 2 innings, struck out 2 (Donovan and Raleigh). Got both strikeouts in his first inning, and did surrender some hard contact in his second, but did not give up a hit. His stuff looked fantastic, per Thomas Nestico (@TJStats on X)

He seems to have spontaneously added almost 5 inches of ride on his fastball in his debut, which resulted in that stellar 114 stuff+ rating.

Anyway, the Guardians look to take the series lead tomorrow night with Cantillo on the mound. It’ll be Bryan Woo for the Mariners.