Another sweep is possible. And not the GOOD kind…
Another poor day for the D-backs bullpen yesterday. Though they didn’t take the loss, and only picked up -18% of Win Probability, Tayler Scott, Kevin Ginkel and Ryan Thompson combined to allow six runs over 3.1 innings (though Thompson does avoid blame, putting up a zero). That increased Arizona’s bullpen ERA for the year to 5.39, ahead only of the Nationals (5.90) and Athletics (6.13) in the majors, It’s almost a run worse than last season’s figure of 4.41. As AZNailgal520 noted in the GDT comments, it feels like yesterday may have been an audition to see who gets DFA’d, if the team makes a move to bolster its relief corps at the deadline.
Right now, I’d say Ginkel is likely on the thinnest ice, despite having the longest tenure. Indeed, he is among the longest-serving Diamondbacks on the current roster, having pitched in seven seasons for Arizona. Only Randy Johnson and Andrew Chafin (eight apiece) have served more time with the D-backs. Of contemporary players, Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are tied with Ginkel on seven, along with Brad Ziegler and Brandon Webb. The fall-off has been dramatic for Kevin. In 2023-24, he worked to a 2.86 ERA across 135.1 innings, which put him in the top twenty relievers for that period (min 100 IP). But he has collapsed completely in 2025, allowing eighteen earned runs in just twelve innings of work.
And I just realized today’s game starts just after noon AZ time, not 1 pm. So I’d better get this onto the site a bit sharpish! Hopefully we can avoid the sweep and move onto what should hopefully be a more productive section of the schedule.