But at least the offense wasn’t the problem tonight….
Okay. So there will be words. Because dat’s what dey pay me for. Yeah. Ugh. Anyway.
Over the history of the franchise, the Diamondbacks have apparently scored 12 runs or more on 152 different occasions. Until tonight, our record in those games was, perhaps unsurprisingly, 151-0. I mean, you’d think that, if a team scored 12 runs or more, they’d win the ballgame. But no. Not necessarily. That winning streak ended tonight.
A number of folks will probably drop by looking of a recap, so I should give you that, and I should probably put it at the front. And so I shall. Consider this the TL;DR part, and the other bits will follow after.
RECAP
The Rockies put up three runs in the top of the first. They were all scored on the first seven pitches that Zac Gallen threw (see below for details). 3-0 Colorado
We got those runs back in the bottom of the first. Corbin Carroll walked, and stole second, and then crossed the plate on a Ketel Marte single to right. Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. drew another walk but was forced at second on Pavin Smith grounder to second, advancing Marte to third. Geno Suarez singled to left, scoring Marte and advancing Smith to second. Gabriel Moreno grounded to short, but an error by Ezequiel Tovar plated Pavin. 3-3 TIE
We scored three more in the bottom of the second thanks to a Geraldo Perdomo double in the game in right center, Ketel Marte getting plunked by Germán Márquez pitch one out later, and then a Gurriel line-drive triple to the wall in center that plated both runners. Smite drove him in with a single to shallow right. 6-3 D-BACKS
Gallen gave those runs back in the top of the third, thanks to two more homers sandwiching a Ryan McMahon single. 6-6 TIE
However, we took the lead again in the bottom of the frame on a Perdomo walk, a Marte single, and an error that allowed Perdomo to score. 7-6 D-BACKS
We then widened our lead in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to a leadoff homer by Suarez, Alek Thomas hitting his first homer of the season one out later, and a Perdomo two-out ground-rule double followed by a Carroll single to right that drove him home. Here is the Suarez dinger:
Anyway. 10-6 D-BACKS
We added our eleventh run in the fifth. Gurriel led off with a single, Pavin Smith singled him over to third, and then Suarez hit a sacrifice fly to center that brought Lourdes home. 11-6 D-BACKS
And then the wheels came off. The Rockies hung four runs off Jalen Beeks in the sixth. They hung three more on Ryan Thompson in the seventh. They hung their 14th run on Kendall Graveman in the top of the ninth. We also got another run in there in the bottom of the eighth, off doubles by Moreno and Josh Naylor, who pinch-hit for the wretched Jordan Lawlar. But that was it, and when you add it all up, it came out to 14-12 Colorado.
THOUGHTS
A couple of propositions I will offer you as you sort through your own thoughts and feelings about this one, as I myself was doing as I put my fingers on my keyboard and words, in fits and starts, came out:
1. Zac Gallen is not an ace. In fact, he’s often not very good.
This was was very much on my mind when I sat down to watch the game. It’s been on my mind every time Gallen has been on the mound this season and change, in fact. Will it be Good Gallen or Bad Gallen? Well, it turns out that once again it was Bad Gallen today. One pitch in, we were already trailing, as Jordan Beck launched one over the wall and into the pool area. After the seventh pitch of the game, we were down trailing by three, thanks to an Esequiel Tovar single and a Hunter Goodman dinger just inside the foul pole in left. To be fair, Zac then settled down and retired the next three batters he faced, in order, and he put up a zero in the second, but then he allowed three more runs, and two more long balls, in the third. He put up two more zeroes in the fourth and fifth, and he exited the game with a lead after five innings of work. So he wasn’t on the hook for the loss here, but his final pitching line was a really very bad 5 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 4 HR with 90 pitches thrown.
Gallen has been really good for us in his three wins of his starts so far. He’s been okay in two others, where he wound up with a no-decision. And he’s been, well, more or less abysmal in his five losses. It is was it is. What it isn’t, however, is an ace-like start.
2. The Rockies, as abysmally bad as they have been to start the season, are not nearly as bad a baseball team as their 7-37 record suggests.
A number of folks have been inclined to characterize this series as a “must sweep” situation, partly because of the aforementioned 7-37 record, and partly because of how DBE framed the question in the poll he offered in his excellent-as-always series preview gave us two choices: either that we might be “devastated” if we didn’t sweep, or that we might be more like, “Eh, there are plenty of wins to be had in our schedule going forward.” Myself, I felt like I would be profoundly disappointed if we didn’t win all three games, but I couldn’t sign up for devastation, because, well, there are in fact plenty of wins to be had, and the Rockies can do a lot of damage with their bats, even if they have been failing to do that so far. Tonight, they reminded us, and the rest of the league, that they can do damage.
They hung six runs on Gallen in five innings of work. They hung four more of Jalen Beeks in the sixth. They hung three more on Ryan Thompson in the seventh. They hung their 14th run on Kendall Graveman in the top of the ninth. As much as we might want to blame our bullpen (and we should), and as much as we might want to scoff at the lowly Rockies, they do still deserve to be taken seriously.
3. Our offense may have some down performances and they may come up short from time to time, but they are not the problem right now.
Everyone in our starting lineup not named Lawlar was on base multiple times. Everyone in our starting lineup not named Lawlar had at least one hit, and scored at least one run. This was our offense firing on all cylinders, and I don’t recall any of those hits being cheap. Our offense is fearsome. Peruse the Win Probability Added stuff from FanGraphs if you doubt it (though mind the savage roller coaster ride that is the line graph itself):
I’ve already spent too many words on this deeply disappointing game, so I’m going to stop now, without the usual bells and whistles. Suffice it to say that our offense, collectively, produced +55.2% WPA, which would usually be enough to win a ballgame. However, our pitching more than compensated by producing a whopping –105.2% WPA. And there you are.
Very active Gameday Thread tonight, with 533 comments at time of writing. Misery loves company. Comment of the Game goes to JustRonn, because, well, he certainly was correct:
They do indeed. Ugh.
Anyway. Join us yet again on a Sunday as we try to salvage a series win against the lowly be less lowly than at start of business Rockies. Merrill Kelly goes for us, highly touted Colorado prospect and rookie Chase Dollander goes for them. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm AZ time. Hope to see you in the Gameday Thread, assuming I can bear to turn it on tomorrow.
Sorry this is going up so late, but, well, this was a rough one. I honestly didn’t know what to say about this for a very long time after the last out was recorded. But always, thanks for reading, and as always, go Diamondbacks!