The D-Backs’ A.J. Pollock celebrates with teammates Sunday after scoring in Arizona’s 3-1 win over the Dodgers in Los Angeles. The teams play again tonight.
Right-hander Walker, bullpen sharp as D-Backs muster enough offense for win
LOS ANGELES – Diamondbacks right-hander Taijuan Walker’s game plan was straightforward, an idea he said was hatched in a pregame sit-down with catcher Chris Iannetta. Walker’s best pitch is his fastball, and if the Los Angeles Dodgers were going to beat him on Sunday, they were going to have to hit it.
When he found himself in his first jam of the day – a bases-loaded, two-out situation in the opening inning – Walker did not stray from the plan. Instead, he fed Joc Pederson four consecutive fastballs, the last one clocked at 94 mph, a pitch Pederson swung through, and Walker screamed into his glove as he walked off the mound.
“That’s what we did,” Walker said. “We went out there and attacked with the fastball. We mixed in some offspeed, but, really, we just used the fastball and it was effective.”
Walker turned in his best outing yet with his new club, tossing five innings of one-run ball, striking out seven, and helping the Diamondbacks snap a three-game losing skid with a 3-1 win at Dodger Stadium.
He was far from the only contributor. The Diamondbacks played a clean game in the field, a rare occurrence through the season’s first two weeks. Their offense resurfaced, contributing at just the right moments. And the bullpen, including (who else?) Archie Bradley as well as a slightly less
nerve-racking version of Fernando Rodney, tossed four scoreless innings to close it out.
“We’re happy with the win,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “It’s been a grind for them the past couple of days. I think the guys were happy with the results. We played a good baseball game today.”
The win moves the Diamondbacks to 8-5 overall and 2-4 on the road trip. They have a chance to split their four-game set with the Dodgers on Monday night before heading down the coast for three more in San Diego, the final stop on their three-city trip.
Walker might have pitched deeper in the game had he not been dealing with back tightness, an issue that first surfaced during his start in San Francisco last week. He downplayed it, but Iannetta made it sound like it wasn’t a nonfactor.
“Really gutsy performance,” said Iannetta, who homered in the victory. “I know he wasn’t 100 percent and I just think he went out there and battled and he gave us everything he had, which we’re really thankful for.”
Walker said the injury dates to an atbat in his previous start in San Francisco, when he was “just swinging too hard and trying to do too much.” While he insisted it wouldn’t prevent him from making his next start, Lovullo acknowledged it played into his thinking when he replaced Walker for a pinch-hitter in the top of the sixth.
“Nothing alarming,” Lovullo said, “but it was one of those things that we didn’t want to escalate. Because of the situation, as well, we thought it was the right move to take him out of the game.”
Walker made sure that when hitting on Sunday he took “easy swings” that were under control. One of those swings produced a clean single to center and led to a run in the third inning.
“I want to make sure I can go out there every fifth day and pitch,” Walker said. “It’s good to get offense, but my job is to go out and pitch.”
Pitching for the first time since hitting Buster Posey on the head with a fastball, Walker showed no ill effects, seemingly willing to pitch inside when necessary. He said a day earlier that it might be difficult against right-handed hitters; the Dodgers had just two in the lineup on Sunday, Justin Turner and Yasiel Puig, and Walker went inside multiple times against both.
Bradley took over in the sixth and recorded the next eight outs without much trouble. It was the second time in his four appearances he’s been asked to protect a lead, perhaps a sign that Lovullo will start using him more in higher-leverage situations.
“We mixed in some offspeed, but, really, we just used the fastball and it was effective.” TAIJUAN WALKER D-BACKS PITCHER, ON HIS WIN ON SUNDAY