D-backs start hot, but can't keep up with Dodgers in Opening Day loss

LOS ANGELES -- It was shaping up to be a great Opening Day for the Diamondbacks on Thursday at Dodger Stadium. Zac Gallen cruised through the first four innings, befuddling a star-studded Dodgers lineup.

Meanwhile, Geraldo Perdomo hit a two-run homer in the fourth off World Series hero Yoshinobu Yamamoto to give Arizona the lead.

"I thought this game was going the way we wanted it to early on," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. "Typical Zac fashion, he was controlling counts, had some quick, easy innings. It looked like he was going to be able to get through five, maybe pitch into that sixth inning."

Things, though, would unravel for Gallen and the Diamondbacks in the fifth, with the Dodgers putting the first five runners on to chase Gallen from the game. L.A. went on to score four runs, three of which came on Andy Pages’ homer, and the Dodgers were on their way to handing the D-backs an 8-2 Opening Day loss.

For Gallen, it was one of those nights where the results didn't feel as bad as they looked in the box score.

The fifth started with a hard-hit ball to second that Ketel Marte couldn't handle for a base hit. Then Teoscar Hernández dribbled a ball to the third-base side of the mound that Gallen made a nice play on, but Hernández beat the throw to first by a half-step.

That brought Pages to the plate. After Gallen jumped ahead 1-2, Pages fouled off a 95 mph fastball. Gallen came back with a curveball that he hoped to bounce or miss low and get a swing and a miss from Pages.

It would prove to be the one pitch Gallen would want back and the pitch that changed the trajectory of the game.

The pitch clipped the bottom part of the zone, and had it been on the outer edge of the plate or even down the middle, the outcome might have been different. Instead, the pitch backed up a bit on Gallen and it came in down and in, right into the swing path of Pages.

"Guys tend to have an easier time handling, especially with two strikes [a pitch down and in]," Gallen said. "I mean, that's the tough part, you know, in a different world, that's maybe a two-out solo homer. That's just baseball. Sometimes the breaks and the bounces don't necessarily go your way, so try not to get caught up on that too much. Just got to execute a little bit better the pitch to Pages."

A single and a walk after the homer ended Gallen's night.

“I think he made adjustments going into the season, and obviously he had different adjustments, different game plan against us," Pages said via interpreter Juan Dorado. "The more we saw him, the more we got a look at what he was trying to do. And I think the better we got to see him, the better at-bats we got.”

The Diamondbacks’ bullpen, which struggled mightily last year and was retooled a bit in the offseason, couldn't keep things close as the Dodgers continued to tack on during a four-run seventh inning.

Early on, the Diamondbacks made Yamamoto work hard for his outs, running up his pitch count to 67 through four innings. But the right-hander found his rhythm and retired the final nine batters he faced after Perdomo’s homer.

The Dodgers' bullpen took it from there, with three relievers combining to retire nine of the final 10 Arizona batters.

"Offensively, I thought we had a good approach early against Yamamoto, and then they all just went on lockdown," Lovullo said. "So give them some credit, and we've got to turn the page and come back out tomorrow."