Twenty-five runs one night. Three the next.
The roller-coaster ride the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers have been on the past two days will end Sunday. It is just hard to tell how.
Diamondbacks right-hander Zac Gallen (3-4, 4.37 ERA) will oppose Dodgers right-hander Tony Gonsolin (1-0, 4.09) in the finale in Phoenix.
“The beautiful thing about this game is there is always tomorrow,” said Arizona right-hander Corbin Burnes, who threw seven shutout innings for a 3-0 victory Saturday after missing a start because of right shoulder inflammation.
Burnes made his best start of the season after Arizona’s crushing 14-11 loss Friday, when Shohei Ohtani capped a six-run Dodgers’ ninth with a three-run homer.
“Last night we battled our butt off and didn’t come out on top. The sun came up today and we got to go out and play baseball and played a good game,” Burnes said. “You can never dwell on the past and you can’t look to the future. You have to play in the present.”
On Friday, the Dodgers became the only team in the modern era to take a lead, then trail by two-plus runs, then lead by five-plus runs, then trail by three-plus runs, then lead by three runs, according to OptaSTATS.
“I’m not sure if they are trying to measure up to us or just focus on themselves,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “For us, I think we just want to play good baseball.”
The Diamondbacks are 6-6 entering the final game of the Dodgers’ series during a 16-game stretch against teams with winning records and playoff aspirations: six against the New York Mets, three versus Philadelphia, four against the Dodgers and three to come at San Francisco beginning Monday.
“There is beauty in having pressure on you,” Arizona first baseman Josh Naylor said. “I think pressure is a gift. When you face good ball clubs, you get better as an individual and you get better as a team. You learn a lot about yourself, whether you win or lose.”
The Diamondbacks recalled left-hander Joe Mantiply on Saturday to give them another option against Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and the other Dodgers’ left-handed hitters.
Ohtani threw a 34-pitch bullpen two hours before Saturday’s game, and Roberts said there is no timetable on his return to a major league mound as he continues his recovery from surgery on his right elbow.
Gallen, who has been working on refining his delivery, enters after two of his most efficient starts of the season, beating the New York Mets in consecutive starts while giving up two runs and four hits with 14 strikeouts in 13 innings.
Gallen is 1-4 with a 4.03 ERA in 13 starts against the Dodgers.
Gonsolin will make his third start of the season after missing the 2024 campaign following Tommy John surgery in August 2023. He beat the Miami Marlins in his first outing, giving up three runs in six innings of a 12-7 victory on April 30.
He did not get a decision in the rematch at Miami on Tuesday, when he gave up two runs in five innings as the Dodgers lost 5-4 in 10 innings. He has 17 strikeouts in 11 innings.
Gonsolin is 4-2 with a 3.54 ERA against the Diamondbacks in 12 career appearances (11 starts).
–Field Level Media
