LOS ANGELES -- One of the many lessons Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright passed along to Luke Weaver was this: If you don’t have it on the mound on a given day, make sure you supply it at the plate.

In Weaver's debut for the D-backs on Sunday, in an 8-7 loss to the Dodgers, he didn’t pitch especially well, but he did bring it at the plate.

Weaver smacked his first career big league home run to cap a seven-run fourth inning at Dodger Stadium.

When Weaver stepped to the plate against Pedro Baez, five runs had already come home and Nick Ahmed was on first. 

Weaver fell behind 1-2 before turning on a 95 mph fastball and driving it into the left-field bleachers. It was the first home run by a D-backs starting pitcher since Taijuan Walker hit one on July 25, 2017.

“Probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” Weaver said. “It was a moment where you kind of black out on. I’ve seen plenty of teammates, especially pitchers, who have put some out there, and it’s an amazing feeling.”

D-backs starting pitchers hit often when the team is home, and that work paid off for Weaver.

“It’s all those times you think you’re a position player and you take it all serious,” Weaver said of batting practice. “That’s why we get in the cages and work. Really, just trying to put a barrel on the ball and you get the right flight on it and beg for it to go over. And sometimes you get what you wish for.”

Things didn’t go as smoothly on the mound for Weaver, who allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks and lasted just 4 1/3 innings.

Three of the runs came in the first inning and two came home on Alex Verdugo’s two-out double.

“I would really like to take back that first inning,” Weaver said. “I was trying to get out of that inning maybe just giving up the one on the sac fly. I just hung the changeup to Verdugo there. That, for me, gave them a lot of momentum and put us on our heels early."