Diamondbacks Mistakes Cost Them in LA

Los Angeles, CA - March 27:Dodgers Will Smith (16) tags out Diamondbacks Pavin Smith (26) at home plate during third inning action at Dodger Stadium on Friday, March 27, 2026. (Photo by David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images) | MediaNews Group via Getty Images Game Summary The Diamondbacks showed a little more fight compared to their campaign opening loss last night, but still came up short at Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium (ugh). Ryne Nelson started the game for the good guys against Emmet Sheehan and very-much-bad-not-good-at-all guys, and it was a bit of a mixed bag for our talented righty.

Ryne finished the night with a line very similar to Zac’s from last night, a not incredibly impressive 4 ER over 4. 2 IP. Nelson did leave a better taste in our mouth than Zac did thanks to Nelly’s 4 runs all coming in the 3rd before he bounced back and retired the last 7 hitters he faced, compared with Zac mowing the Dodgers down for 4 innings then getting lit up at the end.

Nelson has room for improvement, but this was largely a good start for him and I imagine it will be somewhat easier to limit his blow-up innings against teams that don’t stack 8 straight All Stars at the top of the lineup. The offense showed more punch than the night before as well, but for as many opportunities as they gave themselves with the bat, they took away some key opportunities with mistakes on the base paths. Pavin Smith getting sent from first to home should be something on the Do Not Do list given out to the coaches when pitchers and catchers report in February, but apparently our third base coach was feeling froggy and wasted a prime scoring opportunity in the second by sending Pavin to his doom on Alek Thomas’ first RBI double of the evening.

Then, Alek undid his own good when he tried to stretch an RBI double into a triple in the fourth inning. It wasn’t the last out of the inning, and he did actually beat the throw, but having Alek at second with one out and a potential to flip the order over would’ve been a favorable outcome for the Snakes. The defense was again pretty solid, with the only real miscue being Gabi’s throw into centerfield when trying to throw out a stealing Kyle Tucker, but that didn’t end up hurting the team’s chances.