Soroka's gem, Sewald's save give D-backs a little World Series payback

ARLINGTON -- It didn't take the Diamondbacks long to get on the board Monday night.

Back-to-back one-out doubles by Corbin Carroll and Geraldo Perdomo in the top of the first inning gave Arizona a 1-0 lead.

That would turn out to be the only run of the game for either team, as the Diamondbacks went on to beat the Rangers, 1-0, in the first of a three-game set at Globe Life Park. Arizona has now won three straight games to get back to the .500 mark at 20-20.

Scheduled Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi was scratched prior to the game due to left side tightness, so the Rangers went with a bullpen game led by Jakob Junis, who allowed the back-to-back doubles.

Here’s what you need to know about the game:

Michael Soroka was really good

Soroka allowed just three hits over 6 1/3 innings in the combined shutout on Monday and over his last two starts he’s given up just one run in 12 2/3 innings.

“We want to bang the baseball around and score a lot of runs,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “But when you're in [a close situation] and the pitchers step up the way they did, it was a fantastic effort. It started with Soroka. He did a really nice job -- low pitch count, temptation to leave him in the game, and I felt like the bullpen was ready for those matchups, and it worked out really well for us.”

The Arizona rotation has rebounded from a rough stretch to now log seven straight starts of six or more innings, the longest streak in the Majors and the team’s longest since Sept. 9-16, 2017.

The offense has had to pick them up at times during their struggles, and this was a chance to repay the favor.

“Again, just no matter the score, I always tell you guys, it doesn't matter if we're up or down by a bunch, I want to do the same thing,” Soroka said.

Sewald knows people were thinking about 2023

After Soroka, Brandyn Garcia retired the final two batters of the seventh inning, Taylor Clarke held them in the eighth and Paul Sewald closed things out in the ninth for his ninth save.

It was Sewald’s first appearance at Globe Life Park since Game 1 of the 2023 World Series, when he allowed a two-run homer to Corey Seager in the ninth to tie the game and send it into extra innings, where the Rangers prevailed.

This time around, Sewald retired the first two batters of the inning before hitting Seager with a pitch and then getting Josh Jung to fly out to end the game.

“I wasn’t trying to hit him,” Sewald said. “I was trying to make sure he didn't homer. But hopefully he'll play tomorrow.”

While the Sewald-Seager matchup brought back memories for Diamondbacks fans, Sewald has plenty of them himself.

“We will never not be linked,” Sewald said of Seager. “My Instagram feed shows me that all the time. It’s just one of those things. It's a privilege to get to play in those situations. It didn't go in our favor, but I wouldn't trade that for anything.”

Does Sewald think about that moment often?

“Not really,” he said. “There’s nothing I can do about it now. I'll probably think about it when I see it on TV 25 years from now and be just as disappointed. But, you know, I think about getting that last out in Philadelphia [in the NLCS] a lot more than I think about that home run. So I'll think about winning the National League with all these guys more than I'll think about that. But it comes up every once in a while. It's just one of those things. It's just part of baseball history.”