Three games within a game resulted in a gut wrenching L for the freshly clad Serpientes.
Game Summary
On a night where the Diamondbacks debuted their very bold purple and teal City Connect jerseys, I suppose we should have expected a wild game. This game more than delivered on the wild aspect, as this was three games within one.
The first game was headlined by the stinkiness of Eduardo Rodriguez. E-Rod couldn’t get out of the third inning, allowing 8 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks. For the most part, Rodriguez has had a decent season, definitely a season better than his 5.92 ERA would suggest. He had excelled in limiting hard contact, coming in to the game with the lowest Exit Velocity against of any lefty in the National League. Tonight, the Dodgers were all over every pitch he threw. He gave up hard contact on 66% of his balls in play, many of those well over 100mph. While the hard contact was damning, in the midst of this blowup, he committed the cardinal sin of baseball: he didn’t try. Eduardo’s lack of trying on a bunt attempt in the middle of the storm is unpardonable and he may have crossed the threshold into permanent persona non grata status within the Snakepit.
With 2 outs in the top of the third, the second game began. Cristian Mena, in his first Major League action of 2025, came in and did the job. Mena struck out Freddie Freeman to end the Dodgers onslaught and he never looked back. He mowed through the Dodgers’ lineup for the next three innings, only allowing a single baserunner due to a walk. In that time, the Diamondbacks offense rocked to life. A pair of homers from Ketel and Geno in the first gave the D-Backs an early 3 runs, but the next couple frames were empty as E-Rod let the Dodgers run roughshod over Chase. Once Mena came in and started throwing up zeroes, the Snakes’ offense came back, culminating with a game-tying Grand Slam by Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. to reset the score at 8 runs apiece. The D-backs took the lead on a Geno bases loaded walk, then added some late insurance runs in the 8th on back-to-back LONG homers by Ketel and Grichuk. While the offense did their thing, Jalen Beeks and Shelby Miller kept the bullpen dominance going, only allowing 1 baserunner between the two of them to get us to the 9th inning with a 3-run lead.
And here, in the top of the 9th, the third and final game of the night broke out. Kevin Ginkel came on to try and get his second Save in as many nights against these Dodgers, and they were ready for him. The Dodgers went Single-Double-Double-Single to tie the game without recording an out. A few batters later, Shohei was up facing Ryan Thompson and he got the best of that matchup, hitting a long bomb to give the Dodgers a 3-run lead they would not relinquish. In total, the Dodgers sent 9 men to the plate and scored 6 times. The Diamondbacks, facing perhaps the toughest of the Dodgers five closers, went quietly in their half of the ninth, ending what is sure to be one of the wildest games of the year.
The loss was a gut punch for sure, but we can certainly hold our heads high, giving this billion-plus dollar roster everything they can handle for the second night in a row. The crowds have been engaged. The players are locked in. This Diamondbacks team is dangerous. They make more mistakes that we’d like, and our roster (particularly the bullpen) is thinner than we’d like right now, but I think this team is going to be just fine as long as they remain relatively healthy.
Loss Probability and Box Score
Outside the Box Score
- E-Rod’s first inning had 4 balls in play and all 4 were hit at least 100 mph. Ohtani’s leadoff double that banged off the batter’s eye in center would have been a home run in every ballpark except Chase and Coors.
- The Dodgers made a fielding gaffe in the bottom of the first that led to our last 2 runs of the frame. Naylor shot a double off the wall in front of the pool on the fly, but it looked like the Dodger RF Andy Pages was going to be in position to make the play. Right at the last moment, he pulled back and tried to play it off the wall (and he even muffed that). That was with 2 outs, so if he makes that catch, Roki gets out of the inning with a tie ballgame. Thankfully, he didn’t and Geno made the Dodgers pay.
- The first 7 men all reached in the top of the third against E-Rod, bringing Shohei to the plate with the bases loaded, no outs, and 4 runs already in. The seventh man to reach, Chris Taylor, got on via surprise bunt, which in itself isn’t particularly notable, but Rodriguez’ completely nonchalant attempt to field the bunt turned the GDT completely against him. To be sure, there were already no kind words being said towards him, but the lack of effort on that play has probably turned the fanbase against him for good.
- After the Dodgers exploded for 5 runs in their half of the third, Ketel-Pavin-Naylor went down in order against Roki Sasaki on a total of 6 pitches.
- Cristian Mena was given the ball to clean up E-Rod’s mess in the third. Bases loaded and Freddie Freeman up? No sweat, strikes him out swinging on a filthy Sweeper. Next inning? 1-2-3 including an excellent play to jump off the mound and field a swinging bunt. That’s how you do it, E-Rod!
- The Diamondbacks offense did not go away. After Mena was able to stop the bleeding, the Serpientes added a run in the 4th on a leadoff double by Geno and two well-placed groundouts to bring him home. Then in the fifth, the Diamondbacks loaded the bases with one out to bring Gabi to the plate. It would have been epic if Gabi had Slammed on two straight nights, but I find it more fitting that, on the debut night of the purple Serpientes uni, Mr. Purple himself, Lourdes Gurriel, got the honor of tying up the ballgame with a 2-out Granny!
- With runners on the corners and one out, Pavin Smith came up to face a left handed reliever. To my knowledge, there was no righty in the Dodger bullpen ready to come in, but Torey left Pavin in and…Pavin walked! I was not a fan of the move, I thought this is exactly what Grichuk is here for, but Pavin loaded the bases for Naylor and Geno. Naylor struck out, but Geno earned a tough, full count walk to bring home the go-ahead 9th run.
- Freddie Freeman led off the 9th with a single to where Eugenio Suarez would normally be, but thanks to the shift, Freeman got a single on a 68mph grounder with an xBA of .040. That lucky baserunner came around to score what would be the first of 6 Dodger runs in the top of the 9th.
Player of the Game
It says something that on a night where the offense scored 11 runs including Lourdes Gurriel hitting a Grand Slam and Ketel Marte homering twice, that the obvious choice for Player of the Game is Cristian Mena. Ketel, Lourdes, and Geno all had higher WPA than Mena, but without Mena, I doubt the bats would have woke the way they did. As mentioned above, Mena came in to the game with ducks on the pond and Freddie Freeman at the plate smelling blood in the water. Cristian didn’t blink and struck out 5 Dodgers on the night, including 3 combined Ks between Freeman and Shohei! The young man was awesome tonight and I don’t think anyone else could be considered for Player of the Game.
Comment of the Game
This game, I believe, had a record for comments on the young season. There were an astonishing total of 636 comments in the GDT at time of publishing! Well done, Pitters! With all the emotional swings, I feel like I could pick a different COTG for each of the games within tonight’s game. It was a pretty hard decision, but this series of comments regarding E-Rod feels like the most fitting looking back the game between Jim, Sneeeks, and DanO:
Coming Up
The D-backs face the Dodgers in the third game of this epic NL West opening series tomorrow at 5:10pm Arizona time. Corbin Burnes is scheduled to get the ball for Los Serpientes after having to skip his last start. He will be opposed by the once-top-prospect Dustin May, a right-hander with a 1-2 record and 4.36 ERA. I’m absolutely positive this game, like the rest of the series thus far, will not disappoint so swing by the GTD and enjoy with your fellow ‘Pitters!