PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks starter Corbin Burnes returned after missing a start with shoulder inflammation and shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers through seven innings in a 3-0 win on Saturday.

Burnes seemed to sharpen as the game progressed.

With two on base and one out in the fourth, Burnes struck out Enrique Hernandez and Michael Conforto to end the frame. He followed that with a five-pitch fifth inning and back-to-back strikeouts to begin the sixth.

Burnes retired nine of his last 10 hitters — including a sacrifice bunt — and finished with five hits allowed and five strikeouts.

“Everything felt good,” Burnes said. “Can’t complain. Missing a start, nine or 10 days, to come out and command the ball the way we did, spin it the way we did, I was happy with it.”

The D-backs gave him a small lead early, as Corbin Carroll led off the third with a triple and scored on a Ketel Marte ground out.

Arizona’s offense went pretty quiet against Dodgers starter Dustin May from there, but Eugenio Suarez provided insurance with a 455-foot blast to left-center field in the sixth — his second-longest as a Diamondback. Pavin Smith roped an RBI double in the eighth inning, his third hit of the ballgame.

The Diamondbacks are now 9-0 when giving up two runs or fewer and 13-1 when allowing three runs or fewer. Saturday marked Arizona’s second shutout win this year.

After a devastating 14-11 loss on Friday night in which Los Angeles scored six runs in the ninth inning, the Diamondbacks responded with a clean game that leaned on stellar pitching.

“ This is a really good team that we’re playing, clearly, and for us to shut that ballclub out was really impressive,” manager Torey Lovullo said.

“The thing that stands out most to me is how well we fought after the frustration of dealing with last night. You could see this team was focused, and they were ready to do the little things right.”

Corbin Burnes throws a gem in return

Burnes struck out Austin Barnes to end his outing in the seventh, which lasted 91 pitches in his first start since April 30. His pitch count limit was set at 85-95 pitches going into the game.

He is the second Diamondback to complete seven innings this season, as Zac Gallen did so with an earned run on Tuesday against the New York Mets.

In Burnes’ last four starts, he’s thrown 24.1 innings with four earned runs for an ERA of 1.48.

Burnes received a cortisone shot last week after an MRI showed inflammation in his right shoulder. He had felt shoulder fatigue in the back half of his previous three starts, he explained.

He and the club agreed to take a step back for a start, and he lived up to his billing in front of 47,000 fans.

“ I did a good job of, as soon as I was able to, to play catch, to make sure we didn’t lose the feel of anything,” Burnes said. “Shoulder felt good.”

Corbin Burnes, Nasty 96mph Cutter. ✂️ pic.twitter.com/hS2uCqQIw9

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 11, 2025

Ryne Nelson entered the game in the eighth inning, ending the idea of a temporary six-man rotation that had been kicked around.

Nelson, who started for Burnes on Monday against New York, retired Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman 1-2-3 in the eighth inning. He retired the side in the ninth to earn a save.

The Diamondbacks were able to preserve their bullpen after needing 6.1 innings in relief in Friday’s dramatic loss.

“The beautiful thing about this game is there’s always tomorrow,” Burnes said of bouncing back. “Last night, we battled our butt off and didn’t come out on top. The sun came up today and we got to play baseball again, and we came out and we played a good game.”

Arizona has taken two of three against Los Angeles with a chance to win the four-game series on Sunday.

Diamondbacks’ next game

The series concludes Sunday at 1:10 p.m. Gallen (4.37 ERA) will start against Los Angeles right-hander Tony Gonsolin (4.09 ERA).

The Diamondbacks will then hit the road for three games at the San Francisco Giants, starting Monday.

The game will air on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.