Ketel Marte continues to be the hottest hitter on planet earth and Ryne Nelson, the bullpen, and the defense keep this team going!
Ever wonder what the 2026 Dbacks are going to look like? A team with no Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez? Today may have gave us a glimpse into the future with Naylor and Suarez out of the lineup and Ryne Nelson on the bump.
The pitching staff today was great again for the second consecutive day in Chicago giving up only 1 run today on a solo home run, the lone run the White Sox have scored against this Dbacks pitching staff over the past 2 games. Ryne Nelson was brilliant going 5 innings and overmatching the White Sox with his trade mark 4 seam fastball. The bullpen was also spectacular today with Backhus, Morillo, Thompson, and Miller keeping the White Sox off the board.
The pitching staff was helped out today from some pretty spectacular defense. Jake McCarthy called up today robbed a home run and made another catch at the wall.
His centerfield counter part Alek Thomas also made a couple of fantastic plays running down balls in CF.
The other defensive development for me in this game was Tim Tawa proving he is apparently elite defensively just about everywhere by snagging a 103 mph ground ball and starting a double play late in this game to bail out Morillo. What a pickup having such a great versatile defensive wizard who can also hit.
The offense continues to be the Ketel Marte show as he opened the scoring in the top of the first with a solo shot to give the Dbacks a quick lead. Ketel is 5-10 with 2 HR in the White Sox Series and 15-26 in his last 6 games. There is not a hotter hitter on planet earth right now and it really couldn’t come at a better time with all of the injuries to the Dbacks lineup. Alek Thomas also came up and drove in the winning run in the 7th inning. Our RISP king Geraldo Perdomo also lived up to his reputation, sore finger and all, and drove in the final insurance run with a clutch 2 out hit with a runner at 3rd.
Unfortunately the injury trends continued for this team today as the hot hitting Ildemaro Vargas took a curveball to his foot and left the game with a broken foot.
All in all, this was the kind of game we had been looking forward to in 2025 with strong pitching, bullpen, and defense. Unfortunately, it was not accomplished with any of the guys we would’ve expected to do it at the beginning of the season as they are all on the IL. However, If the Dbacks can continue to pitch and play defense, that would be huge for this team. Not sure how sustainable this pitching and defense is as this is against the White Sox, but I am choosing to be optimistic about this trend.
Also following the game it was confirmed that Ketel Marte was seen in emotional distress during this game as a fan was yelling comments to him about his late mother. I believe I am speaking for all AZ Snakepitters when I say that fan is a disgusting piece of human filth. Ketel Marte is one of the top 5 hitters in the game and is also one of the most stand up individuals and leaders there is! Love you Ketel. Chicago, your team sucks and your fans do too. Lets sweep this pathetic team and get the hell out of there!