At least the fireworks were pretty?
Jeff ended up dealing with mechanical issues, hence the lack of your regularly scheduled recap. I did contemplate not bothering at all either, reflecting the general lack of effort put in by the team. It was a blowout loss, where the team trailed from one out in the top of the first. A series, which started with so much promise, ended in a disappointing home split against a division rival. So, I was tempted to post the score and either “This recap intentionally left blank” or a more pithy “Meh”, and get on with my Independence Day. But, heh, here we are
Brandon Pfaadt continued to disappoint. His fall from grace has been spectacular. Anyone remember when when he was leading the league in wins? Or when he posted a 2.78 ERA through the end of April? Over the dozen starts since then, his ERA has been a terrible 7.11. While there may have been some bad luck, his FIP in that time is still north of five, and all that talk about a “breakout season” for Pfaadt appears to have been some kind of cruel joke, He did end up going six innings, but the damage was done early. He allowed four runs on six hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. The bullpen didn’t help, John Curtiss and Kevin Ginkel allowing the other three runs.
Meanwhile, adding insult to injury, Arizona was being mown down by former D-backs Robbie Ray, who was literally making short work of our line-up. It took him only 67 pitches to get through seven innings: the D-backs have NEVER had a starter with an outing of seven innings in fewer than seventy pitches. Ray did last night. He had a no-hitter until the bottom of the fifth, when Eugenio Suarez hit his 27th home-run. The D-backs added their second run in the ninth, on Ketel Marte’s 19th homer, and a seven-pitch at-bat from Suarez did at least stop Ray from getting the Maddux. But he still finished off the complete game, It’s the first nine-inning CG in a blowout loss against us, since Walker Buehler in 2018.
Bad: Brandon Pfaadt, -17.3%
Not bad: Eugenio Suarez, +2.7%
Comment of the game to kilnborn, on a night when discussing the commentary team was considerably more fun than discussing the game.
The Royals now come to town, with a first pitch at 6:40 pm on Independence Day. Eduardo Rodriguez, who has gone the opposite way from Pfaadt, is on the mound for Arizona.