PHOENIX -- It didn’t start well after a sweep in late March. But the D-backs’ season series with the Dodgers ended gloriously.
For the first time since 2018, the club has toppled its division rivals, winning seven of the 13 regular-season contests, including six of the last seven.
More than 136,000 fans packed into Chase Field during a series that felt reminiscent of what to expect during the postseason. Of course, under the banner of “if the season ended today,” the D-backs would join the Dodgers there. By virtue of their 4-2 win on Sunday in the series finale, they remained tied with the Phillies for the second National League Wild Card spot.
There’s more than a month and a half until the playoffs begin, but if the D-backs needed a Game 1 starter, it would almost surely be Eduardo Rodriguez. The 2026 All-Star was again in top form Sunday, stymieing the star-studded Dodgers lineup for the fourth time this season. He yielded just two runs across seven frames and turned in a season-high nine punchouts, throwing 115 pitches, his most in a start since Sept. 9, 2019, as a member of the Red Sox.
But this isn’t just any lineup. It’s the Dodgers, who boast the second-highest team OPS (.766) in baseball. Rodriguez gave up eight runs (six earned) against the club in two starts last year, but has completely flipped the script on them in 2026, posting a 1.88 ERA across his four outings.
Finding that much success in a single season against the two-time reigning World Series champions has been largely unprecedented over the past three years. The only other hurler to face L.A. on three or more occasions in a year and post a sub-2.00 ERA came in 2024 when Yu Darvish did so for the Padres.
It’s conceivable that the two clubs could meet again in the postseason, much like they did in 2023 on the D-backs’ way to winning the pennant. But for now, the continual cat-and-mouse adjustments are over.
“That’s the beauty of the game,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “It’s changing up sequencing and reading, reacting and having a meeting about what the new gameplan will be, adjusting to the strengths of their team and who’s hot and who’s not -- it’s constant. It’s a puzzle. Every single time you play a team, especially the Dodgers, it’s never the same.”
One major way that the D-backs and Rodriguez adjusted from earlier this year was in how to attack four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani. Back on March 28, the D-backs’ southpaw threw the left-handed-hitting slugger just one changeup in three plate appearances; on Sunday, he went to it six times, including on a first-inning strikeout and for three consecutive pitches in the seventh, eventually getting a groundout. Ohtani finished 0-for-4.
“Changeup was working great,” said Rodriguez. “I got a lot of swing-and-miss on it. I think the four-seamer was helping it a lot, too.”
Rodriguez utilized those two offerings on 89 of his 115 pitches. Of the 10 balls put in play vs. his heater and changeup, just one registered as hard-hit (above 95 mph). He got early offensive backing from Ketel Marte, who clobbered his 20th homer of the season in the first, a two-run shot that gave him four consecutive campaigns with 20-plus roundtrippers. Gabriel Moreno, who navigated Rodriguez’s gem from behind the plate, added an RBI double in the second.
Rodriguez and the D-backs never looked back.
“We always play the Dodgers well,” said Marte via interpreter Alex Arpiza. “It was a tough game, I like that kind of adrenaline. … E-Rod is a tremendous pitcher, he’s been mixing it up. Hopefully he continues the same way.”
It was a return to form for the 33-year-old who was coming off having allowed a season-high 11 hits in his previous outing Tuesday vs. the Padres. He found even more velocity in the tank as the outing went on, pumping eight consecutive fastballs at 93-plus mph during his final frame in the seventh. Maybe most valuable was that he exceeded the 100-pitch mark for the third consecutive outing, giving a bullpen that had four arms unavailable a much-needed reprieve.
“He’s on a really good run and it’s not by accident,” said Lovullo of Rodriguez. “He’s pounding the zone. … He can put a baseball in his hand and manipulate it as good as anybody I’ve ever been around.
“He’s on a heater and we’re riding the wave with him.”