Arizona right-hander Ryne Nelson did all he could to get the Diamondbacks a win Tuesday at the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Nelson rebounded from a six-run outing against the Minnesota Twins with five innings and one earned run at Chavez Ravine, although the Dodgers walked off the Diamondbacks, 6-5.
The Diamondbacks started opener Joe Mantiply to get through lefty bats Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in the first inning before Nelson entered. Nelson said it was a different experience but not uncomfortable.
He needed only 78 pitches to get 15 outs and retired 10 of 12 batters in one stretch.
“I thought it was good, the slider had swing-and-miss, used the cutter more and also the changeup felt really good,” Nelson said. “I think it’s just being able to use them all in different spots. Early maybe a little fastball heavy, but then as the game went on, we kind of started to realize their approach and started to change it up a little bit.”
“He got really stubborn,” manager Torey Lovullo added. “He pitched into the sixth, and that’s what we needed him to do … We felt like we had really good matchups from that point forward. He made pitches. He was sequencing the cutter and fastball together and got very effective.”
As poorly as his previous start went, Nelson has given the D-backs at least five innings with two runs or fewer in three of his last four outings.
He noted making mechanical adjustments as a key difference, specifically with his lower half.
“We’ve just been trying to try to calm down the leg kick a little bit and try to allow myself to get out in front easier,” Nelson said. “Last start was getting a little bit too far down the mound and not really able to get out in front of everything, which just helps the slider, changeup and even the fastball location.”
He also lowered his career ERA against the Dodgers to 1.64 over 22 innings.
That is tied with Brian Anderson for sixth-lowest ERA against Los Angeles (minimum 20 innings) in D-backs history — Patrick Corbin tops the list at 0.77.
“You can fall into the trap sometimes where it’s like, ‘I’m either good here or bad here.’ I try to take it one game at a time,” Nelson said.
Nelson threw five scoreless innings after an opener in his last appearance at Dodger Stadium on May 22.
