Recaps
[AZ Central] Nelson rocked, Carroll exits early in Toronto rout – Nelson’s outing unraveled almost instantaneously. Each of the first seven Blue Jays hitters recorded hits, doing so after just 20 pitches. At that point, it was 4-0, and only three of those first seven hits were well-struck. After walking No. 8 hitter Myles Straw to load the bases, Nelson struck out Brandon Valenzuela before giving up a bases-clearing double to Nathan Lukes. He was gone after that. “The game can be pretty unkind to you
at times,” Nelson said. “I felt like we were one or two balls going a foot or so in the other direction away from getting out of it.” Said manager Torey Lovullo: “He just made some mistakes today. He paid for every mistake he made. That’s part of the game.”
[Dbacks.com] Bumped from rotation, Pfaadt saves ‘pen in 1st relief appearance – Pfaadt, who compiled a 5.94 ERA in three starts, made his first appearance of the year out of the bullpen — and it was a beauty. Pfaadt covered the remaining 6 1/3 innings while allowing just one run.“ Without Brandon Pfaadt’s 6 1/3 innings coming in, we would be up against it for another three or four days,” Lovullo said. “The fact that he’s able to throw 84 pitches and protect the entire bullpen and give them a day off, that was fantastic.”
[SI] Brandon Pfaadt Makes Elite 2026 Bullpen Debut in Ugly Circumstances – Six and one-third innings of one-run baseball would generally be considered a dominant quality start. But right-hander Brandon Pfaadt put up those numbers out of the bullpen on Sunday, following the worst outing by an Arizona Diamondbacks’ starter since, ironically, Pfaadt’s own start just under a year ago. Pfaadt had previously allowed eight runs on six hits without recording a single out in a start against the Washington Nationals back on May 31 of 2025. But on Sunday, he was the hero who cleaned up Nelson’s similarly-tough outing.
Team news
[Dbacks.com] Carroll, D-backs downplay star’s back injury following early exit – The television broadcast showed him grimacing after a swing in the bottom of the third inning and then appearing to stretch out his back in right field in the top of the fourth. Both Carroll and manager Torey Lovullo downplayed any concern, and both said he would have remained in the game if not for the lopsided score.“He’s definitely got some low back issues that have been taking place,” Lovullo said. “You know, I told you guys that there were some things that were happening around his body, but he’s just tightly wound.” “It’s just a little tightness,” Carroll said. “It was enough where, in a game like that, I was fine getting out of there — but in a closer game, [I] definitely would have stayed in there.”
[Arizona Sports] Brandon Pfaadt on move to bullpen: ‘Good opportunity to grow’ – With Merrill Kelly returning this past week from the injured list, the D-backs decided to move Pfaadt to the bullpen, a new experience for him with one career relief appearance after an opener in 2023. “It’s a little different, but it’s a good opportunity to grow from and go out there and have a different perspective of the game,” Pfaadt said on Friday. “Probably keep it more extended, stretched out, but obviously depends on the situation and everything, but probably more than likely still built up to a degree,” he added on his role.
[SI] What D-backs’ Series Win Over Blue Jays Told Us — And What It Didn’t – Geraldo Perdomo has been one of the savviest, most mature players on the D-backs in recent years. But he’s had some struggles on both sides of the ball this season. That came to a head in game two, as he made outs on the bases twice and made a costly defensive mistake that led to a run scoring. Manager Torey Lovullo gave Perdomo the day off in the series finale as a result. The manager maintained his confidence in the shortstop, but it is a bit uncharacteristic to see Perdomo make mistakes of this nature.
And, elsewhere…
[ESPN] Mets’ losing streak reaches 11 games; longest since 2004 – The losses are piling up for the New York Mets, and Francisco Lindor thinks the criticism surrounding the team is about to get very loud. New York dropped its 11th consecutive game when closer Devin Williams blew a ninth-inning lead in a 2-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs in 10 innings Sunday. It’s the longest slide for the Mets since they lost 11 in a row from Aug. 28 to Sept. 8 in 2004. “Eleven losses, that’s a lot, whether it’s in April or any point of the season,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But nobody is going to feel sorry for us. We have got to find a way.”
[MLB] Miller blanks his way to 1 inning shy of franchise scoreless streak record – “Success is a scary place sometimes, where you get complacent,” he said. “So I’m just staying up on everything and always focusing on getting a little better.” Better? It’s hard to imagine Miller being better than this. Forget runs. He is barely even allowing baserunners. He’s faced 38 hitters this season, and only four have reached — two via walks and two via singles. Of those 38 hitters, Miller has punched out 27 of them — a ridiculous 71.1% clip. That 71.1% strikeout rate is the highest by a pitcher in his first 11 appearances of a season since at least 1900. Put it this way: Miller struck out two of the three Angels hitters he faced on Sunday afternoon — and his strikeout rate went down.
