Arizona Diamondbacks 15, Los Angeles Dodgers 3: I love Dodger Blues...

Record: 4-4. Change on 2016: -0.5

I certainly hope spring training results are indicative of future success. Because double-digit margins of victory over the Dodgers have been kinda hard to come by. In fact, there has only been one for the Diamondbacks in the regular season since 2002 - the 2014 Game of the Year, where we destroyed Clayton Kershaw on the way to an 18-7 victory. This afternoon’s game is obviously utterly meaningless: but it’s still an awful lot better to be the ones who are layething the smackdown upon, rather than receiving it.

The good stuff started with Zack Greinke tossing 1.2 scoreless innings in his first spring start. He certainly didn’t seem to be throwing with full force, sitting in the high 80’s and a sharp comparison to Shelby ‘Aroldis’ Miller last night. But it still proved effective enough, and most importantly, there did not appear to be any health issues for our Opening Day starter. A two-out walk in the first was followed by Jeff Mathis nailing Andre Ethier as he tried to steal second, and a two-out hit in the second marked the end of Greinke’s day. He threw 33 pitches, 17 for strikes, and fanned one.

Braden Shipley took over, and tossed 3.1 scoreless innings of relief, rebounding from a poor first spring outing. No strikeouts to be seen there, but he didn’t walk any either, and scattered three hits, all singles. But he was efficient, those ten outs requiring only 39 pitches, thanks to dialing up two double-plays. Jorge De La Rosa worked a scoreless sixth, pitching around a hit and a walk with a pair of strikeouts. Brian Matusz was hit about a bit, giving up four hits and two runs in his frame, and Keyvius Sampson allowed a run on two hits as he mopped up the final two innings of this one.

The D-backs had their hitting shoes on, pounding out 16 hits in addition to four walks. Admittedly, a good chunk of the damage was our hitters beating up on their B-pitchers, such as in the seven-run eighth inning. But #GoldschmidtHappened for the first time this spring in the opening inning, Paul Goldschmidt cranking a two-run homer off Brandon McCarthy. He added a two-run single as part of Arizona’s five-run fourth inning, and is hitting .500 for the preseason. There were also two hits apiece for Daniel Descalso and Jason Pridie, with the former also walking; the latter did make an error. Jeff Mathis got a hit and two walks, and Oscar Hernandez his second homer.