Anyone remember Arizona’s last win on the road?
Roster moves
The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves:
- Recalled RHP Corbin Martin from Triple-A Reno.
- Following yesterday’s game, optioned RHP Jon Duplantier to Reno.
Well, no particular surprise there. Dupe’s performances have been the far side of wretched thus far, with a 13.15 ERA over his four starts. Not that Martin was particularly good, but the 9.00 ERA he put up in two starts seems positively impressive in comparison. At this point. it does feel like the team is re-arranging deckchairs on the deck of the Titanic. It doesn’t feel like there is any solution in place, except for the return of better pitchers such as Zac Gallen, Luke Weaver and Madison Bumgarner. Yes, Bumgarner and his 5.73 ERA qualifies as a “better pitcher” than almost any of the alternatives right now. But there’s a reason our rotation has a combined record of 12-30 this season.
The last time the Diamondbacks won a game on the road was April 25th, that being MadBum’s “no no-hitter” outing against the Reds. Since then, the Giants have won SIXTEEN games on the road. Vlad Guerrero Jr has swatted 17 home-runs and Nick Castellanos has got 60 hits. The Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks has picked up seven wins personally, and the Phillies’ Zack Wheeler has struck out 80 batters. While we’re at it, since May 16, the Diamondbacks have won two games. No fewer than FORTY individual pitchers have more wins over that time than the entire Arizona roster combined, led by Hendricks and the Brewers’ Brent Suter, who have six apiece. Yeah, it has not been good.
Torey Lovullo notes
- Going to be versatile with regard to naming starting pitchers going forward. We’ve just got to get through today. Martin is certainly a candidate for tomorrow but he “could be used in a variety of roles.”
- It’s still TBA for starters on tomorrow and Thursday.
- No further injury updates. Luke Weaver is still shut down.
- Christian Walker has been waiting for his pitch. He’s got a great swing plane, and is not “getting into a fist fight” with areas of the zone he doesn’t want to. He seems to be in a very good spot, and is feeling good from a health standpoint.
- There was a bit of miscommunication on the safety squeeze play yesterday, when Walker came home. He should just have taken the out at first.
No audio from Lovullo today, but here’s what pitching coach Matt Herges had to say. Some interesting thoughts, such as about the perils of having Reno as an affiliate.
Matt Herges audio [or link]