So initially Nabil Crismatt was supposed to start this game for us, fresh off of being signed as roster filler (after DeSclafani hit the IL) and then pitching five impressive innings in a start in Colorado last weekend, but sometime earlier today the designated starting pitcher was changed to Jalen Beeks. Lefty reliever and just-before-Opening-Day-dumpster-dive find Jalen Beeks. Jalen Beeks who pitched the top of the eleventh inning last night to secure the win in extras. That Jalen Beeks. Um, okay.
Meanwhile, we were going up against Cincinnati lefty Andrew Abbott, he of the 2025 ASG appearance and the third best ERA among starters in the Major Leagues at start of business today. So, again. Um. Okay?
It seemed like it might be a long and grueling night. And so it was. Happily, however, and unexpectedly, that wound up being what Reds fans experienced, not ours!
Turns out that Torey Lovullo decided last night that he wanted a lefty to open today’s game and face the top of the Cincinnati lineup—specifically lefty center fielder and leadoff hitter Ty Friedl, who’s a tough out, and switch-hitting phenom Elly De La Cruz, who typically bats third and who does far more damage hitting from the left side than the right side. It worked brilliantly, as Beeks set down the top of the Reds’ lineup in order.
In the bottom of the first, we got our first look at Abbott, and after Ketel Marte and Geraldo Perdomo got set down with only three pitches thrown, it looked like it was indeed gonna be rough. Not so fast, though! Corbin Carroll lined the third pitch he saw from Abbott deep into the right-center gap, where it bounced into the pool area for a ground-rule double and promptly stole third without a throw. Lourdes Gurriel Jr., his mohawk back to its expected resplendent purple, continued his current crazy offensive output with a single up the middle that scored Corbin. Gabi Moreno launched a double past Friedl in center that drove in Lourdes, and then Blaze Alexander hit a ground rule double of his own, this one to left, to score Moreno. Tyler Locklear drew what should have been a six-pitch walk, but was called out on strikes thanks to a bogus call by home plate umpire Adam Hamari, who kind of sucked tonight. But still, Abbott on the season had given up three first-inning runs across the entire season to that point, and in one inning, we’d doubled his total and scored enough runs to win us the ballgame. 3-0 D-BACKS
Nabil Crismatt came out, as expected, to start the second, and while he was much less efficient than he was at Coors Field, and while he pitched around a fair amount of traffic in every inning, managed to pitch four innings of shutout ball to get us through the fifth inning. Meanwhile, our offense continued to pile on against Abbott.
First there was Perdomo reaching on an error by Elly De La Cruz at shortstop to lead off the third, as Elly sailed the throw to first and while Reds first baseman Spencer Steer caught it, he needed to make a balletic leap to do so that took him way off the bag. One out later, Lourdes continued doing the Lourdes things that are making him a frontrunner for NL Player of the Month honors in August, sending a ball into the left-field seats:
5-0 D-BACKS
But wait, there was more! Ketel Marte dunked a two-out single into left in the bottom of the fourth, and Perdomo decided to get in on the hit-and-RBI parade with a long ball of his own into the left field seats.
7-0 D-BACKS
Abbott did record the final out of the fourth, but that was the end of his night, and out of the Cincinnati bullpen came an astonishingly large man named Zach Maxwell, aka “Big Sugar,” to make his major league debut. “Big Sugar” stands 6’5”, he weighs 275 pounds, and he throws fastballs, often in the strike zone, that have been clocked upwards of 102mph. So, yeah. He recorded two quick outs in the bottom of the fifth, before Blaze Alexander decided that he had a sweet tooth and wanted to take a bite out of one of those heaters:
So many souvenirs to be had if you were lucky enough to be sitting in the left field bleachers at Chase tonight! Man. 8-0 D-BACKS
Jake Woodford was the third man out of the bullpen for us tonight, entering the game to start the sixth, and he retired Cincinnati in order in both the sixth and seventh innings. He did give up a run in the eighth, thanks to a one-out DeLaCruz double and then a two-out Austin Hays single that drove home Matt McClain, who for some mysterious reason was brought in to pinch-run for the Reds shortstop. 8-1 D-BACKS
That was fine, though, as we got two more runs in the bottom of the eighth on four singles from various contributors to bring us to our final score. Only other thing of note is that Woodford came out and pitched a scoreless top of the ninth, and made MLB history for the Diamondbacks by becoming the 15th (!!!) pitcher to record a save for the team this year, which no team has ever had to do since saves became a thing in 1969. So, yeah. 10-1 D-BACKS FINAL
Win Probability Added, courtesy of FanGraphs
Leaders of Men: Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. (4 AB, 2 H, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR, +16.4% WPA), Nabil Crismatt (4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, +12.4% WPA), Gabriel Moreno (4 AB, 2 H, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 K, +10.3% WPA)
Another blowout game, another example of the WPA algorithm leveling things out so that, after the big early hits and stuff, nothing else registered. Again, though, an example of the sort of solid team baseball our Diamondbacks are playing right now. Everyone in the lineup contributed with either a hit or a run scored, aside from slightly sad Tyler Locklear, who should have been on base twice with full-count walks, but was screwed both times by erroneous Adam Hamari called-strike calls on what each time should have been ball four. Too bad for the kid, but at least neither one wound up affecting the outcome of the game.
It was a lively and lovely Gameday Thread tonight, as far as I saw, though I did admittedly check out after a certain point. 283 comments, though, at time of writing, with a lot of Cantaloupe Pink to choose from. By popular acclaim, and because it deftly referenced culinary techniques while also taking Zach Maxwell down a peg, tonight’s Comment of the Game goes to Diamondhacks for their apt observation after Alexander took him deep:
In his series preview, ISH not unreasonably predicted us to lose this series 2-1, but going into tomorrow, we in fact find ourselves reaching for our brooms as we try to hand Cincinnati their first series sweep of the season! Join us if you dare, as Zac Gallen goes for us and Brady Singer goes for the Reds. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10pm AZ time. Hope to see you!
As always, thanks for reading, and as always, go Diamondbacks!
