Record: 9-8. Pace: 86-76. Change on 2025: -1.
Well, I guess it had to happen eventually. The D-backs looked to be cruising in this one, enjoying a 7-1 lead in the opening game at Oriole Park in the middle of the sixth. But the bullpen, which had been so impressive over the first two series of the road trip, had their most spectacular meltdown of the season. Oh, hang on, to channel Homer Simpson: their most spectacular meltdown of the season so far. They allowed seven runs over just 2.2 innings of work, with each of the three relievers used giving
up a long ball. Taylor Rashi surrendered a grand-slam, and Johnny Lasagna got cooked, allowing the go-ahead home-run to Pete Alonso.
And it had been going so well too.
The Diamondbacks came into this game with only nine home-runs for the season: that put them ahead only of the Giants (8). They had hit a total of three home-runs over their first eleven games in April. That’s a total of 353 at-bats. Of course, this evening in Baltimore, they then went and hit four (below) before the middle of the sixth, a span of just 25 at-bats. It was their first four-HR game since August 11th last year. But more surprising than that, was likely who hit them. Oh, you won’t be surprised to learn that Ketel Marte was responsible for a pair, doubling his tally for the season to four. But the other two came off the bat of Nolan Arenado, who entered the day with zero home-runs and a mere one extra-base hit over his first fifty at-bats as a Diamondback.
Marte wasted absolutely no time, taking the very first pitch of the game deep. It was a high fastball, well above the strike zone, and the perfect execution of an ambush sailing the ball 443 feet and, literally, out of the park beyond right field. When he came up again in the third inning, he took advantage of a mistake pitch by Orioles starter Dean Kremer. He offered up a 78 mph lollipop curveball in the middle of the plate, and this one was deposited 409 feet: not quite out of the park, but certainly good enough for a 2-0 lead to Arizona. The Orioles did get one back, courtesy of former D-backs Blaze Alexander. Corbin Carroll couldn’t catch a foul ball, Alexander reached on a questionable catcher’s interference call and scored on a triple past Alek Thomas in center.
Enter Nolan Arenado, with two down in the fourth inning. Kremer had been offering up a series of splitters, and been having a lot of success with them. But Arenado was clearly looking for some high heat, and when it arrived, after an error had allowed Jose Fernandez to reach base, Nolan did not miss, and it was 4-1 to the D-backs. Better was to follow for him in the sixth. Adrian Del Castillo had singled, and Ildemaro Vargas hit a ground-rule double. Again, a mistake pitch – this time a cutter which really didn’t – was then disposed of, in the way a professional batter should. Arenado had himself his first two-homer game in getting on for three years, since July 7th, 2023.
Ryne Nelson had been very effective, relying as usual on his fastball, which he threw 63% of the time tonight. But he got it up there as high as 98 mph, and was eventually lifted with one out in the sixth. He had allowed three hits and two walks with seven strikeouts, and was at 92 pitches. Should he have been allowed to finish out the sixth? Obvious answer, in hindsight. But that was already a season high count for Ryne, his previous being 86. Nelson’s velo was also dropping: an average of 97.0 mph in the first inning had become 94.4 in the sixth inning. To be fair to Torey Lovullo, you should be able to trust a major-league bullpen to protect a six-run lead for 3.2 frames.
It’s not as if he was sending up Joe Ross either. Taylor Rashi had looked very good since being called up. Small sample size, but you can’t ask for better than retiring every one of the nine batters faced, three by strikeout. Tonight, however? He didn’t have it. Rashi entered with a man on base and one out. A single and RBI single made it 7-2 – to be fair, again, the latter was more fortunate than hard-hit. But the walk and grand-slam which followed? Yeah, that’s on Rashi. [The latter was hit by Jeremiah Jackson, and a neutral observer might well have appreciated it, since he had previously sent a screaming liner into his own dugout, leaving the Orioles manager with a bloody cheek.]
After that, while the Diamondbacks still have the lead at 7-6, it seemed almost inevitable that it wouldn’t hold. The offense sent the minimum to the plate the rest of the way. The only Arizona base-runner was Geraldo Perdomo, who walked in the seventh, but was caught stealing second, as he failed to sustain contact with the base. Meanwhile, Jonathan Loaisiga got the loss, after hitting a batter, and allowing a home-run to the Polar Bear. Only his second since signing a 5-year, $155 million with Baltimore this winter. Andrew Hoffman got the final four outs, but gave the Orioles another home-run, providing them with insurance they turned out not to need.
Click here for details, at Fangraphs.com
Homers (good): Nolan Arenado, +20%
Also homers (good): Marte, +17%; Nelson, +15%
Homers (bad): Jonathan Loaisiga, -42%
Also homers (bad): Taylor Rashi, -27%
It was a positive and upbeat Gameday Thread, until it wasn’t. Blame can be leveled at a lot of places. Me, for deciding to start the recap when we were up 7-1. Mrs. SnakePit for coming home with Chinese and disturbing the fragile mojo. Still, it is only one game, and so I give Comment of the Thread to gzimmerm:
The post-game news confirmed what we more or less expected. Merrill Kelly comes back tomorrow, with Brandon Pfaadt going to the bullpen, and Taylor Rashi returning to Reno. And after tonight, I hope he has to pay his own bus fare there. We’ll look to bounce back tomorrow behind Kelly: it’ll be another awkward start time for us Arizonans, with first pitch scheduled for 3:35 pm here.
