LOS ANGELES -- By pitching Slade Cecconi behind an opener, the D-backs were hopeful they were putting him in the best position to succeed against a difficult Dodgers lineup.

Things largely didn’t go according to plan, as Cecconi gave up six runs in the third inning of Arizona’s 6-4 loss on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. In a trend reversal, though, Cecconi had better fortunes his second time through the order, retiring the final 12 batters he faced.

“It slipped away in a hurry,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “We've seen that happen in this environment. Our young pitchers have got to be ready to step up and figure out a way to just stop the bleeding there.”

As was the case in his debut 2023 season, Cecconi has experienced a noticeable decline in his stats the first time through the order compared to the second time. It was those struggles that prompted Lovullo to consider a different approach when he saw Cecconi was on track to draw the Dodgers in his next start for the first time in his career.

With left-handed hitters and former MVPs Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman batting second and third, respectively, and Cecconi’s experience coming out of the bullpen last year, Lovullo and his pitching coaches felt it made more sense to send southpaw Joe Mantiply to the mound first. After a bit of discussion, Cecconi was on board.

“[Cecconi] brought his notebook in, came into my office, sat down and had a 10-minute meeting with me,” said Lovullo. “And we laid it out there. I was as brutally honest as I could be. And he went back to the drawing board.”

The first part of the strategy worked, at least. Mantiply got Betts to line out before getting a bit of a surprise when Ohtani showed bunt. Although he was able to field the ball fine, Mantiply’s throw with Ohtani motoring to first was slightly up the line, and Christian Walker was unable to hold onto the ball. But Ohtani’s bunt single was erased by a double-play grounder from Freeman.

Cecconi took over in the second, working around a one-out single for a scoreless frame. The third inning, however, was a different story. Kiké Hernández greeted Cecconi with a leadoff homer, and the right-hander proceeded to load the bases on a pair of singles and a walk to Ohtani. Freeman hit a grand slam, and Will Smith made it back-to-back blasts for the first three-homer game of Cecconi’s career before he could even record an out.

“I was definitely out of whack early on,” said Cecconi. “Wasn't using my offspeed well. Just moving inconsistently down the rubber, causing inconsistent messes. And that was what happened early.”

Some on the D-backs felt that Cecconi might have been tipping his pitches, although Lovullo reiterated that the Dodgers beat them “fair and square.” Whatever the case might have been, Cecconi certainly figured something out after Smith’s homer, as he didn’t allow anyone else to reach from there -- including retiring Ohtani and Freeman for the first two outs of the bottom of the fifth.

In total, Cecconi threw five innings, collecting two strikeouts while allowing six hits and a walk on 80 pitches.

“Everything just synced up mechanically,” said Cecconi. “I started moving consistently down the rubber, and yeah, after that, it was what I’d like to do every inning I go out there. It was very unfortunate that the third happened and all the runs came in the way they did.”

With a 6.12 ERA through six appearances (five starts), there’s now some question as to whether Cecconi’s next start will come in the Majors -- something Lovullo wouldn’t commit to one way or the other. Another question that remains: In spite of the results, would the D-backs try the opener approach with Cecconi again?

“We haven't gotten that far with that conversation,” said Lovullo. “But we liked the opener against the first three hitters with Mantiply. It worked out really well. So how we do it in the future, if we do it in the future, we'll determine that in the coming days.”