Back on track?
It has been a while. Last night’s victory was only the second blow-out win for the D-backs since July 9, the other being the 10-1 shellacking of the Cardinals in the first series back after the break. Mind you, wins of any kind have been difficult for the Diamondbacks to come by. After the sweep against the Cardinals, they have gone 2-9, with the offense in particular being missing, presumed dead. The struggles with runners in scoring position have been well documented, and they didn’t go away last night. Arizona were 1-for-9 with RISP, But three home-runs instead will solve a lot of problems: they’re 13-3 when hitting 3+ HR. Though they are 0-1 when hitting 5+, that being the 14-11 loss against the Dodgers.
Oh, and remember the series we dropped to the Pirates, scoring a total of one run in the process? That came in the middle of a spell where Pittsburgh went 8-1, sweeping both the Tigers and Giants, teams ahead of the D-backs in the standing. Merely losing doesn’t seem too bad, does it… except they are now playing the Rockies at Coors, staring down the barrel of a sweep, having conceded twenty-five runs over the first two games so far. Because Coors Field. And also, because baseball. Things change, and we’d do well to remember that for the remaining fifty or so games. We’ll have good and bad days. You would do well to remember, 2025 is irrelevant. We’re looking to 2026 and beyond now.
Today’s starter, Eduardo Rodriguez, will be an important part of that mix. After a June where he looked to be getting back on track, with a 1.98 ERA over five starts, July was an unfortunate back-slide. He was good first game after the break, blanking the Astros for six innings, taking a tough no-decision. But that’t Rodriguez’s only quality start of the month, going 0-3 with an ugly 7.40 ERA, and a FIP which was not much better, at 6.92. He was plagued by the long ball, giving up seven home-runs in little more than twenty innings. As a result, his ERA has remained above five, where it has been since April 29. He’s below replacement level by bWAR (-0.5), so will need to be fixed over the balance of the season.