LOS ANGELES -- With Noah Syndergaard having abandoned his quest to return to the high-90s velocity that defined his early career, the question then became what he could be without that tool at his disposal.

On Sunday, the right-hander showed that he can, in fact, still be quite effective.

Making his Dodgers debut, Syndergaard threw six-plus innings of one-run ball, striking out six and exiting to a standing ovation in a 2-1 loss to the D-backs at Dodger Stadium. The defeat, which resulted from a ninth-inning rally against Brusdar Graterol to break a one-run tie, gave L.A. a split in its season-opening four-game set.

“I'm a big believer in first impressions,” said Syndergaard. “New home, new fan base, so I just wanted to go out there and execute and attack hitters and leave a really good first impression. … All in all, I think it was a really good outing, it’s just unfortunate that we lost.”

In 2019, his last full healthy season before undergoing Tommy John surgery, Syndergaard’s sinker -- his primary pitch -- averaged 97.5 mph and touched as high as 100.1. But after missing the entire 2020 season and most of ’21, that average had fallen to 93.6 when he returned in ’22. On Sunday, Syndergaard averaged 92.7 mph with the sinker, maxing out at 94.3.

Even without the heat, Syndergaard was able to limit the D-backs’ lineup to four hits. He collected 13 whiffs, six coming on his changeup, while inducing mostly soft contact. He worked efficiently, needing just 78 pitches to get through his outing -- and he was sharp, with 57 of those pitches going for strikes.

That style of pitching might not be how Syndergaard envisioned rejuvenating his career when joining the Dodgers, yet it could very well end up being a formula for success for him.

“I thought he was really good today,” said catcher Will Smith, who hit his first home run of the season in the first inning off D-backs starter Zach Davies. “He was really commanding his fastball, his cutter was good, his changeup was really good. He was mixing, going to both sides of the plate really well, which kept them off balance. Just kept attacking the zone. So a really good overall start for him and I’m excited to see what he does this year.”

Besides the diminished velocity, another issue that could impact Syndergaard this season is how well he’s able to control the running game. Due to his slower-than-average delivery, stolen bases have been an issue for him throughout his career -- including last year, when he allowed an MLB-high 30 steals. While he’s attempting to combat that by working on his slide step, some of MLB’s new rules for 2023, designed to increase stolen-base attempts, could make that a more challenging task for Syndergaard as well. 

The D-backs -- a young, fast team -- presented a good opportunity to test him in that regard. And when Corbin Carroll singled to open the fifth inning, it was all but certain that the rookie with elite speed would be off and running. Sure enough, he stole both second and third base on consecutive pitches, which enabled him to score easily on Geraldo Perdomo’s two-out double, accounting for Syndergaard’s lone earned run.

“I thought Noah did a nice job, I really did,” said manager Dave Roberts. “But that team is built on speed, and that's sort of what they do. And with Noah, they're going to try to exploit that.”

For Syndergaard’s part, so far he hasn’t noticed the new rules changing anything about what he’s doing.

“I feel like they're kind of not contributing factors,” said Syndergaard. “I enjoy the pitch clock and I'm getting better at my times [to home plate], getting more comfortable with slide steps and being quicker. Now I’m just going to continue to work on that and giving the guys behind the plate a chance to throw runners out.”