Record: 64-56. Pace: 86-76. Change on 2025: +6.
There was no hangover for the Diamondbacks after their low-scoring series victory over the Dodgers. Indeed, the offense nearly matched the entire output there, in just the first four outs. That provided a nice, soft landing for Michael Soroka, in his return from the injured list, as he threw 4.1 scoreless innings, before being removed for pitch count purposes. Zack Littell made his D-backs debut, and was awarded the win for his 4.2 innings of relief. Arizona simply took care of business tonight at Chase
Field, and as a result remain tied with the Phillies for the second wild-card spot, since Philadelphia also won, in St. Louis.
Before this season, the Diamondbacks had hit only five first inning grand-slams in team history – that’s over a span north of 4,400 opening frames. The last came more than fifteen years ago, in April 2011, when Stephen Drew took Ryan Dempster deep. But the team has now done it twice this year, with Nolan Arenado the man responsible on both occasions. Amusingly, he has a Rockies appeal to thank for it. With two outs, Gabriel Moreno hit a triple that rattled around in the right-field corner. It looked he then scored on a wild pitch, but Colorado appealed, saying it hit Marte. A review confirmed this, so Gabi was sent back and Ketel took first. But instead of getting out of the frame, Lars Nootbaar drew a walk, which allowed Arenado to come up with the bases loaded. Just like on May 18 against Robbie Ray, this then happened.
Arizona put up another crooked number in the second inning. With one out, Ryan Waldschmidt singled, Geraldo Perdomo walked, and Corbin Carroll doubled home Waldschmidt for a 5-0 lead. A wild pitch added another run, and Marte drove in one more with a single. Through two innings, Arizona were 7-0 up, and they had made Colorado starter Gabriel Hughes throw 63 pitches. With Soroka having allowed one walk and no hits through two, it was a bit of a surprise that it was the D-backs starter who was the first to be replaced. Part of this was the Arizona offense taking a bit of a nap for the next few innings. Also, this was Soroka’s first outing in the majors since June 19. He had only one rehab start, throwing 57 pitches for the Reno Aces.
Therefore, while it would have been nice to get him through five and qualify for the victory, a fairly long fourth inning (needing 22 pitches) put the dampers on that. After getting the first out in the fifth, Soroka threw an 8-pitch walk, and Torey Lovullo decided that was enough, at a total of 77 pitches. The final line: 4.1 shutout innings, on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Under normal circumstances, this might have been a bit of a problem. But new guy Zack Littell had been signed for exactly this, and had no pitch count limitation. He didn’t make a great first impression, walking the first batter he faced on four pitches. However, he immediately dialed up a double-play to end the fifth. The DP was Arizona’s friend tonight, with four being turned. Tim Tawa had an unassisted one in the third, and Waldschmidt got an assist (below) in the sixth, surviving a Colorado appeal.
Littell ended up finishing out the game, giving the rest of the bullpen a welcome day off. He got the W in his Arizona debut, tossing 4.2 scoreless innings, on a pair of hits and two walks, with two strikeouts. I was doing some desultory searching, but couldn’t find any other reliever who won their D-backs debut with such a long outing. Indeed, he’s only the 11th D-back with a relief W requiring 14 outs, at any point in their time with Arizona. The last one was Ryne Nelson in 2024. He was also the pitcher before that, in 2023. But long relief is not a glamorous job, and the list largely consists of journeyman pitchers. Oh, and one Hall of Famer, of course.
Arizona tacked on a pair of runs in the eighth, on a Jorge Barrosa RBI single and Moreno RBI double. Moreno, Marte, Arenado and Waldschmidt all had two-hit games, the first- and last-named each drawing a walk as well. On the other end, Max Kepler was 0-for-4 with three K’s. He’s 1-for-22 with eight strikeouts over his last seven games, and I’ve a feeling – read, “hope” – he might not be long for the roster, with Jordan Lawlar and Lourdes Gurriel Jr both on the way back. There was some concern over Perdomo’s early departure from tonight’s contest. He was lifted for the fifth inning with what’s described as left knee soreness. Hopefully just Torey Lovullo being cautious in a blowout win.
Click here for details, at Fangraphs.com
Rain: Nolan Arenado, +27%
That ozoney smell: Michael Soroka, +10%
Microbursts: Kepler + Tawa, each -1%
That is the kind of Fangraph I like to see at home. It hit 97.5% with one out in the bottom of the second inning, and never declined below 94.9% the rest of the way. Let’s give Comment of the Night to Worleybird:
It’s certainly good to have Soroka back. Let’s hope that tomorrow, Mitch Bratt can follow up his stellar performance last time out. The win pushed the D-backs to a season-high eight games above .500, which is the most they’ve been above it since the end of the 2024 campaign. Unfortunately, it didn’t move the needle much, since the Phillies and Padres both also won. The Dodgers are 6-5 up going into the ninth, so that’s not looking good either. Oh, well: just keep winning and it’ll all work itself out. Tomorrow, it’s Bratt starting as mentioned, as the D-backs face the Rockies again, with another 6:40 pm first pitch.
PS Nick Piecoro just Tweeted, “Torey Lovullo did not sound overly concerned about Perdomo’s knee. Said if it were a close game he might have left him in. Could still get a day off in the coming days.”
