Diamondbacks 2, Dodgers 7: First blood to LA

Record: 2-2. Change on 2015: -1.

On the other hand, Shelby Miller's first start as a Diamondback was nothing special to write home about, particularly in a first inning where the ground ball giveth and the ground ball taketh away. The first two Los Angeles batters got the ball through the infield for hits, to put runners on the corners and a certain Cuban then got the Dodgers on the board (Puigs might sac.fly - who knew?). However, after a walk to Adrian Gonzalez, another ground-ball ended the inning. Miller's second inning of work saw three more hits and another Dodger run, giving him a final line of five hits and a walk over two innings, with no strikeouts and two earned runs. Hey, it's spring.

The D-backs tied things up with a pair of runs in the third, on a Jason Bourgeois RBI double, and a Nick Ahmed sacrifice fly, and Yoan Lopez took over from Miller and proved rather more effective. Against a solidly major-league Dodger line-up, he worked two hitless innings, retiring all six batters he faced, including strikeouts of both Puig and Corey Seager). However, the other prospects to appear fared less well, particularly Daniel Gibson, who had been talked up significantly by Chip Hale earlier. Today? Not so much. Six of seven batters he faced reached base, on five hits and a walk - the hits included three doubles and a home-run, as the Dodgers scored four in the sixth.

Of the other pitchers, Andrew Chafin and Braden Shipley threw scoreless innings, though the latter also required a double-play to escape the seventh. Jake Barrett allowed a solo home-run in the eighth which completed the Dodgers' margin of victory. Not a very good day for our pitchers overall, with more walks allowed (four) than strikeouts (three). The hitters didn't get up to much either, and were unable even to take advantage of a trio of Los Angeles errors. Arizona only had four at-bats with runners in scoring position all afternoon, and went hitless in all of those. being held to six hits and one walk, with a disappointing 14 strikeouts.

Jake Lamb was responsible for four of those, going 0-for-4, with Brandon Drury and Phil Gosselin each fanning twice - the latter was also caught stealing. However, perhaps worth nothing. this was your Diamondbacks line-up without A.J. Pollock and Paul Goldschmidt in it. Big crowd, 13,122, at Camelback Ranch for this one: bit of a shame the Diamondbacks didn't bring their A-game. However, there will be plenty more chances to take on Los Angeles in the coming months, in contests which will matter a great deal more in the overall scheme of things. Here's to the D-backs achieving better results.

Tomorrow's contest may well be a sellout too, against the Cubs at Salt River Field, with a 1:10pm first pitch. Patrick Corbin is the scheduled starter for Arizona, and it's going to be on Fox Sports Arizona. We are also hoping to have the first beercap of the season, Turambar getting his spring work in!