PHOENIX -- After giving up a pair of homers in the ninth inning Friday night, Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald went home, had dinner with his wife and watched a movie.
Every closer has their own way of flushing a less-than-stellar outing. For Sewald, it's about maintaining the consistency of his routine.
"I went in the training room and did the exact same stuff," Sewald said. "If I had struck out the side, I would have done the same thing. And so, you just go home and I had dinner and watched a movie, and then we came back today, and, like I said, the easiest way to flush it is just to pitch right away."
Sewald entered a scoreless game in the ninth Friday and allowed a leadoff homer to Ozzie Albies and another to the next batter, Matt Olson, as the Diamondbacks lost, 2-0.
Saturday night, he got his wish for a quick turnaround as manager Torey Lovullo gave him the ball in the ninth with the Diamondbacks holding a one-run lead.
Sewald retired the Braves (including Albies) in order to preserve a 2-1 win for the Diamondbacks.
The struggles Friday night didn't dampen Sewald's confidence, and it didn't give Lovullo any hesitation to hand him the ball Saturday.
"He didn't blow a save yesterday," Lovullo said. "He was in a tie game. He took the loss. So, he's three for three in save opportunities. I'm judging it by the stuff and the command. You know he's going to get clipped, all closers get clipped, all backend relievers get clipped every now and then. But I never lost confidence in him. So he's gonna get the baseball in those situations. Got the right heartbeat. He's throwing a fastball-sweeper combination, and did a really good job today."
The pitching carried the day for the Diamondbacks and it began with Michael Soroka, who allowed just one run on four hits over five innings.
Soroka was followed on the mound by Taylor Clarke, Jonathan Loáisiga, Juan Morillo and Sewald, none of whom allowed a baserunner while pitching an inning apiece.
"Just kept attacking the zone and one after the other, started making pitches and getting big outs, and that's the highlight of the day for me," Lovullo said.
In two starts with the Diamondbacks after signing a free agent deal in the winter, Soroka has allowed one run on eight hits, while walking four and striking out 13 in 10 innings.
Soroka said he didn't do anything differently pitching with little margin to work with.
"You got to bring the same approach," he said. "That's how you remain consistent, I think, as a starter. Obviously it's nice to have a big lead, and you feel that when you're out there. But yeah, I think it more just goes into doing what you do in the dugout, preparing for the next batters in the next inning, whether that's making adjustments from the last one or picking new stuff to work on going forward."
Soroka might not be concerned about the offense, but Lovullo said before and again after that he wanted to see more selectivity out of his hitters. The Diamondbacks entered having scored a total of three runs in their last three games, and somehow won one of those contests.
Bryce Elder, though, provided little for the offense to work with as the Braves right-hander tossed a gem for seven innings, allowing just four hits and two unearned runs.
Of course, it's worth noting the unearned runs were the fault of Elder.
With the Braves up 1-0 in the bottom of the second, the Diamondbacks had runners on first and second with one out, and rookie Jose Hernandez laid down a bunt to the third-base side of the pitcher's mound.
Elder fielded it and threw wildly down the right-field line as both runners came around to score.
"The fact that we're winning games and the boys are grinding offensively makes me feel good," Lovullo said. "We'll eventually figure this out, and the offense will start to carry their weight. The fact that we're winning games another way is really what's impressive to me."