How does it feel, to treat me like you do…
Record: 13-17. Pace: 70-92. Change on 2023: -3.
Well, I guess this was “competitive” for… an entire four innings? Though a good chunk of even that was Tommy Henry wobbling his way through a stream of Dodgers’ base-runners, teetering on the edge of disaster. The first inning was a 19-pitch zero for Henry. It’s probably best if that’s the entirety of what I say about the top of the frame. The D-backs then took the lead. Blaze Alexander, starting at lead-off for the first time, drew a four-pitch walk, went to third on a Ketel Marte double, and gave Arizona a 1-0 lead on Christian Walker’s sacrifice fly. The Diamondbacks have outscored their opponents 29-12 over the first innings they have played this year, so have averaged almost a run per game.
It didn’t last. Henry quickly gave up two runs, and loaded the bases on a pair of walks with one out for Shohei Ohtani. But Henry was able to get the God of Gamblers to hit into an inning ending double-play, which kept the score 2-1 to the visitors. Arizona was then able to load the bases themselves, Gabriel Moreno sliding into first and Corbin Carroll blooping one to centre, before Alexander drew another walk. That brought Lourdes Gurriel up, but everyone, including Steve Berthiaume and our Gameday Thread, knew Gurriel would be hacking at the first pitch. It went as well as his numbers below would suggest.
Both starters then settled down, nobody on either side getting past first base through the end of the fourth. At that point, Torey Lovullo opted to lift Henry, even though his pitch-count through four was at a rather manageable 72 pitches. I suspect they didn’t want him to face the Dodgers for a third time through the order. Which I can see, except it requires you to have better options in the bullpen. Tonight, the options used in the fifth were Andrew Saalfrank and Scott McGough. It did not go well, the two relievers combining for two hits and FIVE walks in the inning. Los Angeles scored four times. They were all charged to Saalfrank, becoming the first regular season earned runs allowed by the pitcher.
But McGough was certainly part of the problem, allowing both inherited runners to score. In his career with Arizona he has a 3-10 record to go with an ERA of 5.08. At $3 million, it’s not as if he is expensive, but it doesn’t feel as if McGough has been worth even that. I can certainly see the team declining their side of the $4 million mutual option for next year. The bullpen implosion is all the more galling because Arizona finally got to James Paxton in their half of the fifth inning. They loaded the bases with one out, and were able to plate all of them on a Randal Grichuk single, wild pitch and Walker sacrifice fly. That narrowed the gap, making the score 6-4 to Los Angeles.
Logan Allen took over in relief and was what you would expect. He did save the bullpen by working three and a third innings, but allowed two runs of insurance to the Dodgers on three hits and a walk. Considering Henry went four innings, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks, Allen was probably the most effective pitcher for the D-backs tonight. Justin Martinez took over for the final two outs, but couldn’t avoid a bit of an unwanted record. For only the third time in franchise history, D-backs pitchers went the entire game without striking out a batter. The last time was August 14, 2015 in Atlanta, and that was only eight innings. The last such nine-inning game was August 29th, 2005 in San Diego.
Even worse, Arizona allowed nine free passes to Los Angeles, on eight walks and a hit batter. There has not been a 0 K/8+ BB performance in the majors since 2012 – weirdly, the Toronto Blue Jays had two of them that season. The major-league record is 0 K/14 BB, done twice, most recently by Boston on May 11, 1950. But in general, you can’t afford to hand out that many gifts to the opposing team, especially one with such a potent line-up as the Dodgers. After that brief surge in the fifth, the D-backs offense resumed their customary late-inning slumber, notching one hit and one walk in the final four innings against the LA bullpen. Nice to see Daniel Hudson again through.
Marte had a pair of hits, Walker drew two walks, and Alexander might get to see more time at the top of the line-up. For he did exactly what you would want from your lead-off hitter, getting on base three times, courtesy of a trio of walks. However, the clutch offense was almost non-existent, Grichuk’s hit being the only one in six at-bats with runners in scoring position. The D-backs haven’t won the opening game of a series since the first set of 2024 against the Rockies, and my fifth Monday recap proved no more successful than the previous four. Despite a winless April, I guarantee that they won’t lose next Monday. That’s because the team will be traveling to Cincinnati instead.
Click here for details, at Fangraphs.com
Temptation: Blaze Alexander, +6.4%
Confusion: Andrew Saalfrank, -24.4%
Not much in the way of Sedona Red comments that haven’t already been covered, e.g. first pitch hacking and the questionable tactic of having the bullpen walk five batters in an inning. Sending Todd Walsh to Utah along with the Coyotes seemed fairly popular. Oh, well: never mind. We’ll hope for better tomorrow, when Jordan Montgomery gets to make his Chase Field debut as a Diamondback [side-bar: seems that Zac Gallen came through his bullpen session without issue, and should be able to pitch his scheduled start on Wednesday. So that’s god news!] First pitch for that will be at 6:40 pm once again. I may be finishing off Breaking Bad personally. We’ll see.