Nelson seeks to sink the Mets
Ryne Nelson gets the start for Arizona in what is intended to be a one-off, with Corbin Burnes skipping this start in the rotation. Burnes should be back for his next scheduled outing, which would be on Saturday against the Dodgers at Chase. He threw on flat ground today at Chase, with Jack Sommers reporting that Burnes “seemed energetic and in good spirits.” With all respect to Nelson, let’s hope this indeed a performance required for one night only. It’s the first time the D-backs have needed to make a change in their starting rotation this season, and if it seems like the Opening Day five have lasted longer than normal… that’s because they have.
Indeed, to find the last time the Diamondbacks were able to complete 34 games with just five starting pitchers, you have to go all the way back to 2019. That year, the rotation of Zack Godley, Zack Greinke, Merrill Kelly, Robbie Ray and Luke Weaver remained intact for one game longer, until Taylor Clarke took Godley’s slot in Game #36. In both 2023 and 2024, by this point in the schedule Arizona had already used no less than EIGHT starting pitchers [Trivia question: how many of last year’s eight can you remember? Answers at the end.] The all-time record for rotation stability to start the year here belongs to 2005, where Estes, Haley, Ortiz, Vazquez and Webb rolled out every day through June 7, Game #59.
Couple of minor bits of news from Torey Lovullo before tonight’s game. The plan is for Justin Martinez to start throwing again later in the week, and Torey reported that Burnes felt good after his side session today. Kendall Graveman will pitch on Wednesday for the Reno Aces: that will be his first game there, so I’d expect one or two minor-league outings before he is ready to be activated. At least there isn’t quite the log-jam of relievers any longer. Hey, silver linings! And A,J, Puk is still trying to get “asymptomatic. getting very close.” But he is now on the 60-day injured list, so he won’t be eligible to come back until the middle of June at the very earliest.
Trivia answer: The eight starters used through the first 36 games of last year were: Pfaadt (7), Gallen (7), Henry (6), R. Nelson (5), Kelly (4), Montgomery (3), Cecconi (3) and Hughes (1),