Yesterday could have been another disaster for the bullpen, with Zac Gallen only lasting 3.2 innings. But at least the Arizona relief corps were efficient. Particular credit to Brandyn Garcia, who made his season debut, and needed only twenty pitches to record six valuable outs. He, Ryan Thompson and Kevin Ginkel required a total of 53 pitches while getting through 4.1 innings. That came after Gallen had labored to 95 pitches for 3.2 innings of work. That continued a nightmare run for the Arizona pitching
staff. Here’s their line over the past ten games, since April 19: D-backs starters: 39 IP, 67 H, 48 R, 48 ER, 9 HR, 24 BB, 33 K, 11.08 ERA
Across the same time-frame, no other team has a starter’s ERA worse than 5.79 (the Padres). Over the past two turns through the rotation, the D-backs have been more than five runs worse than anyone else. Over the same time, the bullpen hasn’t been great, with a 5.25 ERA. But there are actually half a dozen teams (including the Padres, actually) who have a higher ERA there. All told this year, the Arizona rotation is now more than half a run worse than the bullpen, with an ERA of 5.36 against 4.85. Right now, that’s the worst starter ERA in franchise history, surpassing the 5.20 figure posted during the terrible 2021 season. The bullpen figure is almost unchanged from last year’s 4.82.
Given this, it’s kinda remarkable the D-backs are still above .500 – albeit only just. The two other teams with an overall ERA above five are the Nationals (15-18) and the Astros (12-21). Both of them are actually scoring significantly more than Arizona as well: we are at 4.71 runs per game, while Washington is at 5.33 and Houston is at 5.12. Based on runs scored and allowed, the Diamondbacks “should” be at 13-18, the fourth-worst record in the majors. If things don’t turn around in the rotation, it won’t be long until that’s going to be closer to the team’s record than the current one.
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