What is the story about?
Game Summary
Full recap to follow. Vent in the comments!
Loss Probability and Box Score
Outside the Box Score
- After Gabi blew an ABS challenge on the first pitch of the game, Nelson came back and struck out Juan Soto on the next 3 pitches, culminating with a whiff on a 98mph fastball right at the top of the zone.
- No bearing on the outcome of the game whatsoever, but a gentleman wearing a Dodgers hat caught Nolan Arenado’s home run ball in the third. He was clearly stoked about catching a home run ball. It’s great that no matter who your team is, catching a ball will turn you giddy.
- DBacks fandom collectively held its breath at the end of the top of the third inning when Corbin Carroll made a fantastic catch fading/jumping into the right field fence. It looked like maybe his throwing hand was hurt since he was holding in close to his hip and then gave a little hop with a grimace as he ran back in to the dugout. Corbin had his helmet on in the dugout getting ready to hit the next inning so hopefully just a stinger that won’t cause any future issues.
- Ildemaro Vargas made a very good diving play at second base to take a hit away from the Mets to lead off the fourth. He quickly spun around through to first while barely getting off the deck. Fernandez, for his part, did well to corral the throw far to the fair side of the bag and complete the putout.
- The television broadcast showed a graphic during Corbin’s second AB of the game that showed the difference between his OPS in games the DBacks win vs. games they lose. His OPS is north of 1.300 in wins and around .400 when they lose, the largest gap in MLB so far this year. Corbin is our motor.
- Ryne Nelson only had 64 pitches at the end of 5 innings. Looking extremely efficient, with only one 3-ball count through those 5 innings per the broadcast, and a Zone% of 58% (for comparison, Nolan McLean was at 49%).
- Jose Fernandez was called out on strikes in the fifth on a curveball that looked pretty far outside, but already being down a challenge thanks to Gabi’s first pitch decision, made the decision to not risk the team’s final challenge at the halfway point of the game. Bummer as it would have brought up a full count with a runner on first and only 1 out instead of being the 2nd out of the inning.
- Ryne Nelson owned Juan Soto all night long. 2 strikeouts and a lazy fly out and he didn’t look comfortable in the box all game.
- The common refrain when something, anything, goes wrong for the Diamondbacks pitching late in the game, is that Torey was late with his hook for the pitcher. Tonight, he got up Morillo midway through the 7th and after Nelly had back-to-back full counts – with the second one resulting in a walk – Torey went out and got his starting pitcher after 6.2 stellar innings of work. Juan Morillo made quick work of Marcus Semien to strand the runner and, unfortunately, guarantee Nelson would get a No Decision for his work tonight.
- Luis Torrens, the Mets catcher tonight, took a foul ball straight off the bottom of his mask from the bat of Jose Fernandez. He was down for several minutes and was clearly in pain based on his reaction to the Mets trainer prodding around his jaw and chin, but – as most catchers are – he’s tough as nails and got the mask back on got back behind the plate. I don’t know if I could mentally get through a full season as a Major League catcher. My hats off to them, that is a brutal position.
- The Diamondbacks finally got to face someone other than Nolan McLean in the 7th inning, and the Rattle of the lineup went walk, single, walk with 2 outs to bring up Domo with a chance to put the Serpientes ahead for the first time of the night. Unfortunately, Gerry rolled over to first base for an easy out to end the threat.
- Ryan Waldschmidt, fresh off the bus from Reno, came in as a pinch-hitter for ADC with 2 out in the 8th for his first AB in the Majors and spanked single that fell at the feet of Juan Soto for his first career hit in the Bigs. Congratulations on the first of many hits Waldy!
- The Mets had runners at the corners with 1 out in the 10th and smartly had Semien steal second to remove the threat of the double play. Good thing for them as the next ball in play was a soft grounder right back to Jonny Lasagna, but since the Mets were running on contact, the Snakes got an easy out at the plate for the 2nd out of the inning and then Jonny induced a soft grounder to Arenado to finish the extra frame. Too bad it was 2 runs too late.
Comment of the Game
The GameDay Thread was very well attended with several topics touched on outside the ballgame (per usual). A final tally of 413 comments at time of publishing. Comment of the Game tonight is awarded to chwalter for this gem:
Coming Up
The Diamondbacks face the Mets for the second game of this 3-game set tomorrow evening with a 4:15pm first pitch televised on FOX. Righthander Clay Holmes (4-2, 1.69 ERA) will take the mound for New York and Merrill Kelly (1-3, 9.95 ERA) takes
the ball for the good guys looking to show signs of life. Here’s to Merrill returning to his Mainstay form.
