Dodgers hammer D-Backs’ pitching in exhibition game,
From the beginning -- even when things were going well for the Diamondbacks, like when Ketel Marte was rounding the bases after a first-inning solo home run – things felt a little off on Sunday night.
A normally jam-packed Dodger Stadium was empty, the piped-in crowd noise an inadequate substitute. The evening felt like a lesson learned for the Diamondbacks.
They lost, 9-2, in a game that did not matter but that they seemed to want to win, and they came away with the knowledge that playing an opponent other than themselves might not be enough to replace the intensity that will be absent from ballparks in 2020.
“It’s a lot quieter,” Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed said. “There’s energy when you play here (at Dodger Stadium) all the time. When you have 45,000 fans screaming at you, it’s definitely different. It felt like a spring training intrasquad-type game, just from the standpoint of not having fans.
“Nobody can use that as an excuse this year. … We’ll have to bring our own energy.”
The tone in Ahmed’s voice – and in that of manager Torey Lovullo – suggested that Sunday would go down as a disappointment. The Diamondbacks fielded almost their entire projected Opening Day lineup – first baseman Christian Walker, sidelined with a groin injury, was out – yet managed just four hits.
They collected just one hit – Marte’s solo homer in the first – off Dodgers starter Mitchell White in his five innings. Meanwhile, the Dodgers blasted Diamondbacks right-hander Taylor Widener, who served up a grand slam to Cody Bellinger in a first inning in which he did not record an out.
Luckily for Widener, the exhibition nature of the evening allowed for the Diamondbacks to “roll” the inning – ending it after five batters and 25 pitches had been thrown.
Like so many before it over the previous few weeks, the day was strange and unusual for the Diamondbacks. They traveled to LA in the morning, getting their first exposure to what travel will be like this year.
The team took four buses to and from the airport, twice as many as normal, with players and staff occupying seats every other row. On the flight, they were handed a small pouch with a mask, wipes and hand sanitizer. At Dodger Stadium, the team occupied multiple locker room spaces. The food room was closed off. If someone wanted a drink, a stadium staffer was there to hand one over.
“It’s done the right way,” Lovullo said. “It’s a very safe environment.”
As for the game, the Diamondbacks found out quickly that it was not the raucous Dodger Stadium they used to know. Ahmed said it was easy to hear “chirping” from both dugouts. The stadium’s artificial crowd sound wasn’t nearly as loud, and Ahmed said there was never a point when he was able to imagine this was just a normal game.
Lovullo said it is going to be on each player to find the competitive juices without the crowd there to supply them.
“You didn’t feel that vibe and that heartbeat that goes along with playing games in the stadium,” Lovullo said. “Each person has to dig in and say, ‘I’m pridefully doing this for my teammates, for each other, to help us win a baseball game.’”
Short hops
● Reliever Yoan Lopez did not travel with the team to Los Angeles. Lopez missed time at camp last week for reasons possibly related to coronavirus testing protocols, though the club is unable to say why.
Lovullo said Lopez was back at Chase Field on Sunday and was expected to be back again on Monday, after which the team will chart the next step, Lovullo said.
Walker also did not travel with the team to Los Angeles.
Lovullo said the team is still deciding the best way to have players travel on their own when commercial flights might not be the safest option.
“We’re trying to figure all that out,” Lovullo said. “Trust me, it’s not an easy situation. How do we get somebody from Point A to Point B in a very safe manner.”
● Lovullo said the team brought “33 or 34” players with it to Los Angeles, including five who had been stationed at Salt River Fields: lefty Joe Mantiply, right-hander Jeremy Beasley, catcher/ outfielder Daulton Varsho, infielder/ outfielder Andy Young and infielder Wyatt Mathisen.