By Mark Carlisle

Independent Newsmedia

PHOENIX — After their best season in years ended with playoff disappointment, the Diamondbacks started 2018 on the right foot, topping the Colorado Rockies 8-2 Thursday night at Chase Field. Unlikely Opening Day starter Patrick Corbin was dominant through 5 2/3 innings with the exception of solo home runs allowed to DJ LeMahieu and Nolan Arenado. He allowed seven hits and one walk but struck out eight, with five strikeouts in the first two innings. "Can’t win ‘em all if you don't win the first one. That was kind of the joke today," said bearded fan-favorite Archie Bradley, who threw 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief Thursday. "But to kind of pick up right where we left off, it felt like… just an all-around team win." The top of the D-backs’ order set the table well for the team’s big hitters. Paul Goldschmidt came up with two men on three times and was walked all three times. Jake Lamb made the Rockies pay though, with a double and single to drive in four total runs. He also struck out in one at-bat with the bases full. Lamb gave the credit to his teammates for getting on in front of him. "I got a couple knocks, but it’s on the other guys, because they get on so easily and so often. That makes it a lot easier for me," he said. Diamondbacks starting pitcher Patrick Corbin throws out the first pitch of Thursday's game against the Colorado Rockies in Phoenix. [AP Photo/Matt York][/caption]The opening game of 2018 was a rematch of last year’s National League wild-card game, Oct. 4, 2017, at Chase Field, when the D-backs outlasted the Rockies 11-8 in a back-and-forth game. The D-backs were then swept out of the playoffs by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series. Thursday’s contest looked like it was headed the way of the high-scoring wild-card game when the D-backs led 3-1 after one inning. Things quieted down though, as both teams were held scoreless for the next four frames. Arenado cut the lead to 3-2 with his solo shot in the top of the sixth, but the D-backs got more breathing room with three runs in the bottom of the inning, thanks mostly to a two-RBI single from Lamb. The Rockies threatened again in the seventh, but the D-backs turned to shut-down reliever Bradley, who induced a double play to squash the rally. New reliever Yoshihisa Hirano made his major league debut to start the inning. He allowed a single and struck out a batter before being replaced so lefty Andrew Chafin could face a left-handed hitter. Hirano is a 34-year-old rookie after pitching 11 seasons in Japan. He and Bradley were candidates for the closer job before manager Torey Lovullo announced  earlier this week another new reliever, Brad Boxberger, would start the season as closer. Boxberger was not needed to save Thursday’s six-run win. Another new acquisition helped extend the D-backs lead to 8-2 in the seventh. Right fielder Jarrod Dyson showed off his speed with an RBI triple and was later singled home by Devin Marrero, whom the D-backs traded for last week. Diamondbacks starting pitcher Patrick Corbin throws against the Colorado Rockies during the first inning of Thursday's game in Phoenix. [AP Photo/Matt York][/caption]Ace Zack Greinke had been scheduled to start Opening Day before a minor groin injury late in spring training that pushed his first start back to Saturday. Corbin, a 2013 All-Star, was planned to start Opening Day in 2014 for the D-backs, but needed Tommy John surgery in spring which sidelined him for the whole season. Four years later, he got his Opening Day start. "It was fun. Before the game is when all the stuff’s going on, but once you’re on the mound it’s just like a packed crowd in an ordinary game, or at least that’s how I tried to handled it," Corbin said, saying warm-up was a different feel from a regular start. "...Usually, when you’re warming up 30 minutes before the game, no one’s really here."

Pre-game honors

The D-backs had some 2017 hardware to hand out before they could start 2018. Lovullo received his 2017 National League Manager of the Year award. He said he was honored that voters would choose him and thanked the fans. "I’ll look back one day at that trophy and see it on the mantle somewhere, see it on the shelf somewhere, and think that 2017 was a pretty special year," Lovullo said. Goldschmidt went home with two awards, the 2017 Silver Slugger and Gold Glove for NL first basemen. It was his third time winning each award. Greinke was also presented with the Gold Glove for NL pitchers, his fourth straight season winning the award. Goldschmidt began campaigning for his fourth Gold Glove with a diving stop to rob Charlie Blackmon of a hit in the top of the 3rd.

Humidor

For the first time this year, balls used in Chase Field are stored in a humidor to combat the dry Arizona air, a change expected to shorten fly ball distance and improve pitchers grip. There were no apparent affects in Thurday’s game, as the Rockies went deep twice and, though the D-backs went homerless, Lamb hit a double off the wall to the deepest part of the park in right-center. Lamb new his fly that fell a few feet short of a home run would spark the first humidor speculation of the season. "I wish it went out of the park. Now I’m going to get the humidor questions," he said with a laugh. Bradley said Lamb was the player of the game, but had another reason the ball didn't go out. "I thought he went deep though, so hopefully he got a quick post-game lift in to get that double to leave the yard next time," Bradley said. Upon hearing his teammate's quote, Lamb smiled and agreed he should have hit the weight room. The Rockies’ Coors Field in Denver is the only other park to store balls in a humidor, which stopped balls from flying out of Coors at quite the rate it had before the change in 2002. However, it’s still considered the best hitter’s park in baseball. Major League Baseball is expected to use a humidor to store baseballs in all 30 ballparks as soon as next season.

Bullpen cart

Another addition to Chase Field in 2018 is the bullpen cart that gives home and road relievers the option of being shuttled in from the bullpen to the mound. Bradley chose not to use the cart Thursday, saying the experience of running out of the bullpen is too good to pass up. "I’m not trying to talk about myself here, but there’s something special about when I come out of those gates and the crowd kind of gets into it, and I feel it, man," he said. "It’s a special feeling to run out and feel the crowd get behind you like that, and it really gets the heart pumping and adrenaline flowing. So thank you, fans. I’m not going to say I’ll never use it, but when you get a reaction like that leaving the bullpen, it’s going to be hard to, because that’s pretty fun."

UP NEXT

Lefty Robbie Ray will face Colorado's Tyler Anderson in Friday’s 6:40 p.m. game.