I’m a little surprised we didn’t see a roster move today, with Bryce Jarvis presumably icing his arm after throwing the most pitches by an Arizona reliever in over three years. He might be available again to pitch on… Saturday or thereabouts, and we’ve previously seen pitchers turn in yeoman’s work, only to be sent down to the minors the following day, to get a fresh arm. But in this case, the fact that Jarvis was the only reliever used last night worked in his favor, because it does mean everyone
else should be available tonight, and we might not need roster churn. See how deep Brandon Pfaadt goes tonight. More than Eduardo Rodriguez, hopefully.
It’s an area where the D-backs have actually done pretty well this year. The league average is 5.2 innings per start, and of all the “proper” starters used this year, only Anthony DiSclafani and Nabil Crismatt have been below that. I think it’s likely forgivable under the circumstances. Even after last night’s disaster, Eduardo Rodriguez is still out there for that league average 5.2 innings. Zac Gallen’s average of 5.8 innings leads the current starters, ahead of Ryne Nelson (5.5), Brandon Pfaadt (5.5), Rodriguez and Crismatt (5.0). The Phillies, at 5.7 innings per start, are the only team in the majors who have their starters going significantly deeper into games than the D-backs.
This is particularly odd, since it’s not as if Arizona’s rotation has been particularly effective – I trust this comes as no shock to anyone. By ERA, the Diamondbacks’ starters currently rank 21st by ERA, despite being third in innings pitched (they are 0.1 frames behind the Mariners, as well as the Phillies). This may be a knock-on effect of the wobbly bullpen. There are probably times where Torey Lovullo would have wanted to go to the bullpen, but simply trusts them less than a shaky starting pitcher, so opts to stick with the latter. This year, it has very much been a case of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” for Torey.
