Jake Lamb comes through in clutch

Editor’s note: We are with the Arizona Diamondbacks every game this season and will have you covered here from starting lineups to the last word from the clubhouse.

This is your home for D-Backs game day news and analysis.

Lamb chop

Diamondbacks third base Jake Lamb ripped the first pitch he saw from Alex Wood in the fifth inning to center for a two-run single that allowed Arizona to take a 4-3 lead over the Dodgers at Chase Field.

Chris Owings reached on a fielder’s choice and advanced to second on a throwing error by Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley. Paul Goldschmidt was intentionally walked and both runners advanced on a wild pitch.

After Lamb’s two-run single, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts lifted Wood for right-handed reliever Pedro Baez. Cook’s line for the night: 4.2 innings, seven hits, four earned runs, one walk and six strikeouts.

So far, not so bad

The Diamondbacks were tied up at 2 after three innings with the Dodgers at Chase Field.

Shortstop Corey Seager gave Los Angeles a 2-0 lead with a first-inning, two-run home run off Arizona starter Taijuan Walker.

A.J. Pollock answered with a solo homer, his second of the season and his first career leadoff homer. He sent the 0-1 pitch from Dodgers starter Alex Wood into and out of the pool area in right-center field.

Pollock also doubled in the third and scored thanks to an RBI double down the left field line by Chris Owings.

As for Walker, he retired the side in order in the second and third innings and pitched out off a partial jam in the fourth.

Playing it safe

Basketball is off-limits.

So is getting on the water to wakeboard.

And sliding down a mountain on skis, which Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt has never done.

“I’m not going to try until my career’s over,” he said.

Avoiding certain activities isn’t unusual for baseball players who, like Goldschmidt, are mindful of the danger they could present to their health, which is paramount to staying on the field and having a chance at a lengthy career.

But they also aren’t bubble-wrapped when they’re off the clock, a reality that was highlighted Friday when news surfaced Giants ace Madison Bumgarner suffered a separated shoulder and bruised ribs from a dirt-bike accident during a recent off-day.

So striking that balance between living life and being safe is a judgment call each player has to make.

“You can’t just sit back and be scared of everything,” Goldschmidt said. “But you try to be smart, as well, and not take too many crazy risks.”

Deciding what’s doable isn’t always clear-cut.

Goldschmidt has previously gone snowmobiling, which he didn’t think was dangerous – until riding changed his mind.

“I’m glad I didn’t get hurt,” he said.

Third baseman Jake Lamb enjoyed snowboarding but gave it up once he started playing collegiately because he knew he’d want to barrel down the mountain too fast. Even now, he might skip a trip with his buddies in the offseason because he knows he won’t be able to participate.

“Your body is Number 1,” Lamb said. “If you can’t be on the field, you’re worth nothing. So I’m not going to go risk that. What other guys do – I’m sure guys do it in the offseason. I just know me, and I know how I used to snowboard.”

Left-hander Robbie Ray liked to ride dirt bikes and four-wheelers when he was younger. Center fielder A.J. Pollock has stopped skiing.

“I could do a lot of that after baseball,” Pollock said. “I love being around mountains, but it’s just not worth it.”

Accidents can still happen; in 2013, then-Diamondbacks pitcher Ian Kennedy missed a start after cutting his right index finger while washing a knife. The season before that, catcher Jonathan Lucroy’s wife accidentally knocked over a suitcase that fell on Lucroy’s hand and broke it. And former Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain dislocated his ankle that same season while jumping on the trampoline with his son.

“You can walk to the ballpark and fall off a curb or something, twist your ankle,” Ray said. “There’s stuff you can cut out and you can be smart about, but there’s also things you can’t control.”

Manager Torey Lovullo called Bumgarner’s injury “very unfortunate” for the Giants and all of baseball while also mentioning players’ ability to unplug away from the field as what makes them great.

“I always encourage our guys to get away from the game on their off-days,” he said, “but be smart about what they’re going to be doing.”

Prohibited activities can be written in contracts, language that specifically outlaws certain sports, but players also acknowledged that staying safe is expected.

“You should know,” Pollock said. “I’d be really embarrassed to tell the team I went skiing and hurt myself. It’s just I don’t want to have to go through that conversation.”

Insight from La Russa

With his first homestand and road trip in the books, Lovullo said he continues to learn every day amid the “whirlwind” of his first season at the helm of the Diamondbacks.

And Chief Baseball Analyst Tony La Russa has helped during the transition, with the two talking Thursday and visiting a couple times during the team’s opening homestand.

“He will give great advice and always supporting some of the things that are going on here,” Lovullo said. “But in the same vein, he’s not afraid to say, ‘Hey look, this is what should have happened or what could have been a little bit different.’ But always very supportive and always somebody that’s giving me some really good advice.”

Inching forward

Lovullo and some players were sporting T-shirts Friday embossed with the slogan, “Win an inch.”

“It’s not about an inch fair or foul or getting thrown out by an inch,” Lovullo said. “It’s about the placement of so many inches on a field that you can’t possibly count that we want to make sure we’re prepared to win. That means more or less taking care of your business to win that moment.”

Greinke gets his gold

During pregame ceremonies, Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke was formally presented with his 2016 Rawlings Gold Glove Award. It’s the third time the right-hander has received the honor in his career and he looked absolutely delighted about hoisting it up and posing for photos with it as well.

Greinke will next pitch on Monday night when the Diamondbacks host the Padres for the start of a four-game series at Chase Field.

Polly me this

Yes, manager Torey Lovullo – who so far seems pretty hip when it comes to social topics like food, music and the latest trends – dropped a “Leland Van Lew” reference on us today during his pre-game media session.

And “Leland Van Lew,” in case you didn’t know, is Bryan Brown’s character in the 2004 film “Along Came Polly,” starring Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston. In the movie, Van Lew is a high-risk insurance client prone to base jumping off high rises and swimming with sharks. It came up while Lovullo was asked for his reaction to Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner injuring his shoulder and ribs during a dirt bike accident. Specifically, reporters wanted to know how he felt if one of his own players was out risking life and limb doing something like riding a dirt bike.

“I know that you’re going to have a couple of candidates like Leland Van Lew from ‘Along Came Polly.’ Anyone remember that movie?” Lovullo asked. “But that’s what makes some of these players so great, is their ability to go out and get away from the game and do things like that. I always encourage our guys to get away from the game on their off days, but be smart about it.”

Here are some of highlights from manager Torey Lovullo’s pregame news conference with reporters at Chase Field:

On his level of concern about the defense, which has been shaky – “I have concerns in all areas at all times, but right now in the third week of April, my concerns are minimal. I know that as we’re sitting here talking right now, there’s a group out there that’s pounding away, taking ground balls and really getting their skills perfected. Although it hasn’t been pristine at times, I know that we’re going to improve. I feel very comfortable in saying that. … We’ve seen a lot of areas of improvement with certain guys and I know that will continue.”

On where he feels he feels the team stands following one completed homestand and one completed road trip – “Well, it feels good to know that we can play the type of baseball we played in our first homestand and we’re looking for that to continue. It’s nice to come home. But the road trips that take you into this journey throughout the course of a season is really where you find out a lot about your team. The first road trip was a little bit of a white-knuckler because we were going into San Francisco and LA and then to San Diego, but our guys handled it very well. They got off to a little bit of a rugged start and then winning the two final games in LA showed me that this team is ready to compete on that type of level.”

On if he cared to share what the message “Win the Inch” means that’s printed on the back of workout T-shirts that he and his team were wearing Friday – After a lengthy pause, he said, “I can. It’s not about an inch fair or foul or getting thrown out by an inch. It’s about a placement of so many inches on the field that you can’t possibly count that we want to make sure we’re prepared to win. And that means, more or less, taking care of your business to win that moment. And that’s as far I’m going to go.”

Dodgers at Diamondbacks

When: 6:40 p.m.

Where: Chase Field (Roof hotline: 602-462-6262).

Pitchers: Diamondbacks RHP Taijuan Walker (2-1, 3.94) vs. Dodgers LHP Alex Wood (1-0, 1.00).

TV/Radio: FSAZ/KMVP-FM (98.7), KHOV-FM (105.1).

RELATED: Will the real Arizona Diamondbacks stand up this weekend?

D-Backs lineup

1. A.J. Pollock CF

2. Chris Owings SS

3. Paul Goldschmidt 1B

4. Jake Lamb 3B

5. Yasmany Tomas LF

6. Brandon Drury 2B

7. David Peralta RF

8. Jeff Mathis C

9. Taijuan Walker P

MLB POWER RANKINGS: Diamondbacks hit road, road hits back

By the numbers

2: This will be the second time Mathis has caught Walker. Mathis went 1-for-18 on the team’s recent 10-game road trip.

15: Lamb has reached base safely in a career-high 15 straight games.

.312: Goldschmidt is hitting .312 in his career against the Dodgers with 24 home runs and 78 RBIs in 99 games.

MORE: Chill out on Goldschmidt’s cool start

Speed from Goldy, D-Backs

Paul Goldschmidt has been successful in 22 consecutive stolen base attempts dating  to 2016, the second-longest streak in club history (record: 30 by Eric Byrnes in 2007).

Entering Friday’s games, Arizona ranked second in the majors with 16 stolen bases, one behind Cincinnati.

RELATED: ‘Long’ Diamondbacks road trip ends with loss to Padres

Pitching preview

Taijuan Walker went five innings and gave up just one run against the Dodgers on Sunday at Dodger Stadium, an outing that likely would have lasted longer had he not been dealing with back tightness. Walker said this week the back felt “much better,” but he said he’ll still try to limit the effort he puts into the swings he takes at the plate. … Walker has six walks and 16 strikeouts in 16 innings and he has allowed just one home run, to Giants 1B Brandon Belt in his first start of the season. … The Dodgers’ Alex Wood has made three appearances, two in relief and one as a starter, and has pitched effectively each time. He’s allowed one run in nine innings. … He threw in relief against the Diamondbacks last week, throwing 3 1/3 innings of hitless ball. … In 35 1/3 innings against the Diamondbacks in his career, he has a 3.06 ERA. He started once against them last year, giving up one run in seven innings.

Coming up

Saturday: At Chase Field, 5:10 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Robbie Ray (1-0, 1.96) vs. Dodgers RHP Kenta Maeda (1-1, 7.07).

Sunday: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Shelby Miller (2-1,3.50) vs. Dodgers RHP Brandon McCarthy (2-0, 2.12).

Monday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zack Greinke (1-2, 3.28) vs. Padres RHP Jhoulys Chacin (2-2, 4.70).