LOS ANGELES — Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Gabriel Moreno and Geraldo Perdomo each slugged two-run home runs, and the Arizona Diamondbacks played a more fundamentally sound game than the Los Angeles Dodgers in Monday’s 9-5 win.
The D-backs (26-22) won their fifth game out of their last seven, as they improved to 3-2 against the Dodgers this season. Los Angeles, meanwhile, is on a four-game losing streak.
It was apparent which team was sharper early on.
With two on and one out in the first inning, Eugenio Suarez hit a high pop fly to center field for a routine play. Dodgers center fielder Hyeseong Kim seemingly lost the ball in the sky, and right fielder Teoscar Hernandez did not get over in time to save the play.
A run scored, and the D-backs pushed one more across by the end of the frame.
The second inning started with a Tim Tawa tapper to third base, which Max Muncy had trouble securing and firing an accurate throw. Tawa advanced on a wild pitch from Dodgers opener Jack Dreyer, skipped over to third on a fly ball and scored on a sacrifice fly from Perdomo.
“Take advantage of everything, and we executed,” Moreno said.
The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, were on top of their defensive game for starter Brandon Pfaadt, from Suarez snagging short hops at third to Tawa running balls down in center field to Ketel Marte making a diving stop at second.
It was one of their more complete defensive efforts of the year, a weapon that helped Pfaadt cruise through four 1-2-3 innings out of six.
“ I thought we were spot on,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “Our movements were good, the footwork was clean. The glove position was good. If you break it down the way we do … I thought we played fast. We played very fast defense and it showed.”
Diamondbacks start hitting the ball out of the ballpark
The third inning was where the power came into play, as Gurriel and Moreno each hit two-run shots off Dodgers bulk innings eater Landon Knack — who was listed as the starter before a late change caused the D-backs to tweak their lineup.
Moreno’s was particularly eye-opening, as it was his first home run to left field this season, and he crushed it 411 feet halfway up the bleachers.
Corbin Carroll just missed a homer of his own, as a line-drive shot to right just hooked foul. He ended up walking and scoring on Gurriel’s blast. The D-backs were up 7-0 in the third inning.
“We put some really good, pure swings on fastballs out over the plate,” Lovullo said. “I thought our guys matched up well. They were engaged and really locked in.”
Gabriel Moreno CRUSHES this baseball!
The @Dbacks have a 7-0 lead in the 3rd 😳 pic.twitter.com/pXkMtVg3B0
— MLB (@MLB) May 20, 2025
Dodger Stadium had a similar sound to Game 1 of the 2023 NLDS, a packed crowd — which showed up early for Vin Scully bobblehead night — mixing groans, murmurs and boos while nothing went right for the home team in the opening three frames.
The Diamondbacks’ offense cooled off — even with a Carroll lead-off triple in the fourth inning — until the eighth inning. That’s when Perdomo popped his sixth homer of the season, tying his career high less than two months into the campaign. Those runs came in handy later.
Josh Naylor hit a ball to the wall in the ninth, but Hernandez leaped and came down with the robbery.
Overall, all nine Diamondbacks starters recorded at least one hit, as the team finished with 11 knocks. They have scored at least eight runs in four of the last five games.
Geraldo Perdomo hits the third 2-run homer of the game for the @Dbacks! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/OIppmr87WJ
— MLB (@MLB) May 20, 2025
Brandon Pfaadt’s unorthodox statline
Pfaadt started the game with 3.1 perfect innings until Mookie Betts hit a solo shot in the fourth.
L.A. (29-19) dented Arizona’s lead with a trio of solo home runs in the middle innings, two from Betts and the other from Shohei Ohtani. They went back-to-back in the sixth.
Pfaadt lasted six innings for the seventh time in 10 outings, giving up three earned runs on three hits with no strikeouts.
That’s right, he did not give up a hit that stayed in the yard. Plus, this was his first game all season without a single K.
It was a bit peculiar, but he completed another quality start. And he did so by not allowing the Dodgers to build innings or punish him with men on base. He only walked one batter.
“ I think there was a lot of early contact, which played a part in it,” Pfaadt said. “And maybe there were some pitches we didn’t execute later into counts. At the end of the day, we got the outs when we needed to and were able to get the win.”
Pfaadt just threw 6.1 scoreless innings against the Dodgers at Chase Field on May 8.
“It’s no easy task to pitch against that lineup twice in a week and change,” pitching coach Brian Kaplan said. “I thought he competed really well. Obviously ran out of a little steam late, but threw the ball well, attacked guys, mixed early, got some weak contact. That’s a tough lineup to face.”
The right-hander now leads MLB with seven wins.
Juan Morillo and Scott McGough each threw a shutout frame before Ryan Thompson ran into trouble in the ninth.
The Dodgers scored two runs on three hits off Thompson — one of which was avoidable, as Thompson failed to cover first base on a grounder that should have been an out. Arizona had to call on Shelby Miller to pick up the save.
Miller also recorded a save on Sunday. Although he only tossed four pitches on Monday, how that impacts the bullpen availability on Tuesday is to be seen.
Diamondbacks’ next game
The D-backs’ series at Chavez Ravine continues on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m.
Ryne Nelson (5.13 ERA) will start for the injured Eduardo Rodriguez, Nelson’s second start of the year. The Dodgers will turn to Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.12 ERA), who allowed five runs at Chase Field on May 8.
“We’re gonna take nothing for granted,” Lovullo said. “Winning game one here is very important. We want to win the series.”
Catch the game on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.
