Disco died in the first and the offense no-showed all night long for our sixth straight loss.
Game Summary
I was hoping that the first game after the trade deadline would show a spark of fight from this team. I wasn’t expecting them to go on a magical run to the Wild Card, but I was definitely thinking there would be some fight. I was wrong.
Anthony Desclafani, better known around here as Tony Disco, had been a pleasant surprise since he made his debut for the club earlier this year. His last appearance was in the last game I recapped last Friday when he pitched 4 hitless, scoreless innings of relief en route to a Diamondbacks extra innings win. Tonight was not like that. He was hit early and hit hard in the first when the A’s sent 9 to the plate and scored 4 runs. I was actually surprised when I saw they only scored 4; it just seemed like they kept slamming ball after ball into a gap somewhere and letting the merry-go-round continue. He wasn’t exactly sharp in the next 1.1 innings that he pitched, but he didn’t allow any further runs to cross and he at least gave his offense a chance.
In fact, that was the story for the entire bullpen the rest of the night: giving the offense a chance. The Diamondbacks bullpen has been average-ish since the All Star Break, which is a far cry better than what we were seeing for the first half of the year, and that trend continued tonight with only 1 ER across 5.2 innings. No one was particularly dominant, although John Curtiss did record our one and only perfect inning of the night in the 8th, but we got decent welcome back outings from Kyle Nelson and Jalen Beeks and Jake Woodford somehow only allowed 1 ER in his 2.1 innings of work. Giving up 5 runs isn’t great, but it shouldn’t be the end of the world, either.
Unfortunately, with our freshly gutted lineup post-trade deadline, 5 runs was WAY too many. It certainly seems like the only chance they have is if the pitching staff throws a shutout. The Diamondbacks last win came 7 days ago in a 1-0 (11) slog of a game. The last time they scored more than 2 runs was July 23rd. The offense had some opportunities, but they ended the night 0-5 with RISP and left 9 men on. The umpire didn’t help things, for our hitters or our pitchers, but you can’t blame the umpire for the consistently weak contact throughout the night.
You expect teams to break out of slumps, but that’s when the majority of the lineup are veteran major leaguers with at least average bats. In this post-sellers reality the Diamondbacks are currently living in, I think we can count 3 D-backs starters who would be considered average or better hitters. This slump may go on a bit longer than we all hope.
Loss Probability and Box Score
Outside the Box Score
- Lourdes Gurriel’s infield single in the first was one of the worst swings you’ll see end up as a hit. A sheepish “I really don’t wanna” 3/4 swing bounced past the mound and with no infield shift (a rarity anymore), it was all the second baseman could do just to get to the ball as it reached the outfield grass. Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good.
- Tyler Locklear’s first at bat as a D-back came in the first inning. He was rung up on a breaking ball that never appeared to be in the strike zone, but the umpire judged it came back and caught the outside corner. Tough break for his first AB.
- Anthony Desclafani’s welcome to the starting rotation was a rough one. Lawrence Butler, the Athletics lead-off man, doinked a little humpback liner into center for an opening single, but after that it was all rockets leaving the Athletics bats. The next 4 batted balls had exit velocities over 96 mph, including a 3-run homer by Shea Langeliers off a middle-middle slider.
- Corbin Carroll hasn’t quit on this season. In the first inning alone he made 2 fantastic throws from right field, but both ended just a whisker away from recording an out. The first throw was a throw to third that nearly caught Lawrence Butler from behind as he took the extra base going first-to-third on a single. Then the next throw came on a play at the plate where the throw beat the runner easily, but Jose Herrera was way too far in front of the plate to be able to dive back and make the tag. Carroll still doesn’t have an arm that you’d call a “hose”, but I never thought he would even get this strong of an arm. Tremendous credit to him for putting in the work.
- Blaze was credited with an infield hit to leadoff the second, but it very credibly could have been scored an error as the third baseman got to the grounder in good shape but he never found the handle to make the throw.
- I can’t say Desclafani settled down after his rough first, but he was able to strand his back-to-back leadoff walks to the top of the A’s order in the second inning.
- Corbin Carroll’s walk in the 3rd was the result of an 11 pitch at bat and that wasn’t the only 11-pitch walk of the inning! Two batters later, Lourdes put up a monster fight after he was robbed of Ball 4 on an outside pitch early in the at bat.
- Alek was 2 for his first 2 at bats against the A’s lefty starter. He’s only got multiple hits against a lefty in the same game twice before tonight. The first was back in 2022 and the other before tonight was July 11 of this year (he’s only logged multiple at bats against a lefty once in a game since then). If Alek can be a little more consistent, or at least somewhat threatening, against southpaws it would be a very positive development for our future.
- Blaze Alexander came up with 2 on and no out in the 6th inning and smoke a groundball at 105 mph, but unfortunately it was right at the A’s third baseman and they were able to roll a double play.
- Shea Langeliers started off the sixth with a double on a baby pop fly that barely stayed fair down the right field line, but the more remarkable thing about the play was Langeliers’ bat broke completely off at the handle and hit Herrera full on the shoulder. He was clearly in pain when it happened, but was somehow laughing by the time the trainer came out to look at him. Langeliers was understandably concerned when he stopped at second base looking back at his fellow catcher.
- Tyler Locklear had been having a fairly rough D-backs debut, including muffing a scoop on a fantastic attempt by Blaze Alexander on a cross-diamond throw in the 7th, but 2 batters after that failed scoop, Locklear made a sparkling defensive play, diving to his arm side to steal a base hit and then making an on time, on target toss to the pitcher covering first to end the inning. There were a lot of glowing reports about Locklear’s defense after this trade, and it was good to see a flash of it tonight.
Comment of the Game
It was a rather full GDT, at least early, but it understandably began to thin out as the reality of the evening progressed. A total of 366 comments at time of publishing and quite a few Sedona red comments to choose from. COTG goes to Dano with the comment that started the thread which became the inspiration (mandate?) for tonight’s recap headline while also spurring a conversation that had me completely aged out:
Coming Up
The Diamondbacks face the A’s in the second game of this series tomorrow with a 7:05pm first pitch Arizona time. The untradeable Zac Gallen will be on the hill for the Snakes and he’ll be opposed by right-hander JT Ginn who is 2-2 with a 3.89 ERA.