Diamondbacks 2, Giants 1: No Lawlar? No trouble!

Corbin Carroll homered twice, and that was that.

Record: 22-20. Pace: 85-77. Change on 2024: +2.

Merrill Kelly allowed one run over seven innings, and Corbin Carroll provided all the offense with a pair of home-runs, as the D-backs edged the Giants by the odd run in three. It was certainly tense, both side spurning opportunities to score, and making some great plays on defense. But after Miller, the Arizona bullpen held firm, sending San Francisco to a fourth straight loss. Despite all the hype, top prospect Jordan Lawlar did not get into the game after his call-up earlier in the day.

I must admit, it was nice to see a legend like Justin Verlander pitch. It could be the last time, considering he’s now 42 years old. He’s one of the few players to have ever won the trifecta of MVP, Cy Young (three times) and Rookie of the Year. He achieved the pitching Triple Crown in 2011, was a nine-time All-Star, and part of World Series winning teams in 2017 and 2022 with the Astros. He leads all active pitchers with 80.9 bWAR, and since that’s 26th all-time, will surely be a first ballot Hall of Famer [wearing a Detroit or Houston cap? That’s an interesting question] So it’s always a pleasure to see someone with such a track record.

The D-backs lost a run to shitty ground maintenance in the first. Corbin Carroll had come back from 0-2 to draw a walk, and two outs later, Josh Naylor hit one past the right fielder, unerringly into Triples Alley. It trundled to the wall. It lodged under – for weak definitions of “lodged” and “under” – padding which inexplicably didn’t reach down to the outfield track. Carroll would easily have scored from first, but it was deemed a ground-rule double. He had to go back to third, and was stranded at the end of the inning. But he learned, hitting a home-run OVER the wall to the opposite field off Verlander in the third. And he doubled the lead to 2-0 with another home-run to start the fifth (below).

Arizona had other chances, and certainly weren’t treating Verlander with respect. In the fourth, a one-out infield single from Gabriel Moreno was followed by a double down the right-field line from Lourdes Gurriel. But the Giants’ outfielder Mike Yastrzemski played the carom in the corner beautifully and Moreno also had to stop at third. Alek Thomas hit the ball back up the middle, with Moreno going on contact… and with the infield drawn in, was out by a distance bigger than the gap at the bottom of the outfield wall padding. Yeah, I’m still bitter. 😉 Ketel Marte also had a 101.9 mph line-drive, with a .750 xBA, turn into an out.

The bottom of the sixth was more of the same. Moreno got another infield single with one out, but was thrown out trying to steal second. Gurriel – and stop me if you’ve heard this before too – doubled. Moreno might not have scored there, but probably would have made Thomas fly-out into a sacrifice fly, rather than merely the third out. Fortunately for these missed opportunities, Merrill Kelly was out-dueling the old master in every area except efficiency. Through six innings, Verlander needed only 75 pitches, while Kelly had taken… four more. He had allowed six hits, but three were infield hits to Heliot Ramos. A double-play helped in the fourth, although SF got on the board in the fifth on a two-out RBI single.

It made for quick work, the first six frames completed in just under ninety minutes. Verlander was lifted after a lead-off single in the 7th to Geraldo Perdomo. Bob Melvin clearly wasn’t going to let Carroll get a third look at him, and JV remains unless in nine starts. [Unless he pitches into his age 45 season at least, I don’t think 300 wins is happening] But the Giants’ bullpen needed only three pitches to tidy things up in the top of the inning. Kelly got into trouble in his half, putting two on with one out. He rebounded with a swinging K and a pop fly, ending his night: seven innings on 103 pitches, with one run on eight hits, no walks, eight strikeouts, and most importantly, zero cramps.

After an eight-pitch top of the eighth, albeit helped by a genuine highlight reel catch, it was over to the bullpen to… ulp try and preserve a one-run lead for six outs. Jalen Beeks got the top of the Giants order, and promptly issued a walk to the first batter faced. After a strikeout, he was then the beneficiary of a likely Play of the Year candidate from Gurriel, who had to leap up to snag a 110.8 mph screamer at full extension (above). Beeks escaped the inning, but our pleas of “I can haz insurance runs?” fell on deaf ears with the Diamondbacks offense. There was some debate as to who would work the ninth. Shelby Miller? New guy Kendall Graveman? Ryan Thompson.

It was a legitimate question, because the D-backs had only successfully defended a one-run lead in the ninth. That came all the way back on April 8 against the Orioles [While the team had five one-run wins before tonight, the others all involved a walk-off, extra innings, or runs conceded in the ninth to make it a one-run game]. Torey Lovullo went with Miller, and it proved… fairly drama free, with a 1-2-3 ninth, though the second out went a bit further than I was entirely comfortable. Hey, it’d have been a home-run in Tampa’s park… But Miller closed the door, and the D-backs had their first win of the season when scoring fewer than three runs. All those missed opportunities? Didn’t matter in the slightest.

Hits with runners in scoring position? They’re VASTLY over-rated…

Thanks to all the participants in the Gameday Thread, with 439 comments a healthy number for a Monday night. I would give Comment of the Night to gttarheelz32 for his visual depiction of Gurriel’s catch, but it’s an animated GIF which won’t work well here. So it goes to kilnborn for this appropriate and pithy helpful advice.

I’m off to watch Final Destination 2 – that’s The One With The Road Accident, in case you needed reminding. Same two teams tomorrow night, with the D-backs getting the first (and likely best) crack at a series victory, behind Brandon Pfaadt, facing old friend Robbie Ray. 6:45 pm first pitch again, see you for that.