Diamondbacks Report: Rockies Sweep in Depth
This was supposed to be the turnaround series. A three-gamer in a hitter’s paradise against the last-place team in the NL West was what the reeling Arizona Diamondbacks needed to get back on track. But the best-laid plans of mice and men oft go astray. A case in point is the Diamondbacks, who had no business being swept by the Colorado Rockies. Here’s an in-depth look at what happened.
Diamondbacks Pitching versus Rockies
Starters
The starting pitchers struggled. Seth Frankoff, pressed into duty by the injury bug that is sweeping the staff, only lasted four innings. The Rockies knocked him around, notching seven hits and two home runs while scoring five earned runs. Granted, it was only his second major league start, so take this with a grain of salt. Additionally, he had no run support whatsoever. That’s not an expression — the Diamondbacks did not score at all while he was in the game. Still, though, his Game Score of 29 indicates a lousy outing.
Madison Bumgarner did not have a good day at the office, either, although he said he felt better than the line score indicates. At least the Diamondbacks scored runs for him, plating six. Bumgarner surrendered eight hits in his six innings — allowing only one homer, at least — leading to a disappointing Game Score of 34. (In Coors Field, allowing one home run definitely qualifies as “only.”) However, he did not have enough help behind him. Of the seven runs he allowed, two were unearned. Take those two away, and Bumgarner leaves the game with a lead.
Taylor Widener, who has been terrific so far this season, returned from his groin injury Sunday. This gave a feeling of optimism, despite his shaky first inning where he hit two batters. However, in the second inning, his injury flared back up, and he left the game after only pitching five outs. Despite that, his Game Score was an above-average 51. We can only wonder how that game would have played out had he stayed in for a full outing.
Relievers
The relievers pitched better than the starters, despite facing an uphill battle all series. Of the 11 times a reliever entered the game — including when relieving a fellow reliever — the Diamondbacks were behind seven times. They only held the lead three times.
Yes. Three times. A Diamondbacks reliever entered the game with a lead a grand total of three times all weekend, and they all came in the same game.
Three relievers had scoreless outings — Joe Mantiply, the embattled Kevin Ginkel, and Joakim Soria. Soria seems to be getting in the groove, as he pitched two scoreless outings. On Saturday, he entered down a run and pitched a scoreless eighth to keep the Diamondbacks in the game. On Sunday, he relieved lefty Alex Young and retired C.J. Cron, who hits 20 points higher against lefties. This maintained a one-run Diamondbacks lead.
Caleb Smith also did well in his three innings, allowing only one run. These three innings came in emergency duty due to Widener’s injury. Four other relievers pitched in the series — Stefan Crichton, Alex Young, Riley Smith, and Taylor Clarke. They each allowed one run. Crichton’s was Sunday’s walk-off homer by Trevor Story. Riley Smith entered the game behind and fell further behind. This also happened in one of Young’s two outings. In the other, he pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings before Soria relieved him. Clarke was the opposite. In one outing, he kept the team from falling further behind. In the other, he blew a one-run lead; however, that run came largely due to an off-target throw from Josh Rojas. Clarke also got bailed out by Josh Reddick’s throw home that was relayed by Rojas to nab Yonathan Daza at the plate.
Diamondbacks Hitting versus Rockies
Overall Hitting
The hitting woes continued in Denver. For the series, the team batted .225. With the bases empty, they batted .269. With runners on base, the average plummeted to .188, and with runners in scoring position, it was even lower — .120. Performance like that makes one wonder if it’s something as simple as being much better against pitchers using the windup versus pitching out of the stretch.
Nine players notched at least one hit in the series. One had two, another had three, one had four, and two players had five hits. Three position players and two pitchers went hitless. One of those position players — Domingo Leyba — is 0-for-the-season, hitless in 14 at-bats.
Timely Hitting…or Lack Thereof
The situation gets worse when looking in detail at RBI situations. They have struggled with “timely hitting” for weeks. This was no exception, as they had 10 RBI for the series. Three came on a bomb from Eduardo Escobar; two more came from a Pavin Smith home run. Three more came from sacrifice flies. That makes eight. Another came from what would have been an RBI groundout by Stephen Vogt if not for an error by Cron. The remaining RBI came on a double by Reddick.
This is a problem. Of the ten RBI, five came on home runs. Four came on plays where the DBacks either also made an out or should have. That means that only one came on a ball that didn’t produce an out or leave the ballpark. When your team only hits two home runs in a three-game series, they need to drive in more runs without exchanging a run for an out. This is especially true with the ball being used this season, since slugging the ball over everyone’s head is more difficult to do.
Uncharacteristic Play in the Field
The normally sure-handed Diamondbacks made three errors in this series, and all were costly. One was a fielding error by Escobar in Saturday’s game; that led to two unearned runs in a game that ended 7–6. A second error came in the second inning Sunday on a ground ball that could have been an inning-ending double play. Rojas looked up to see where he was throwing before he fielded the ball; this led to a run.
The third came in the eighth inning on a single by Ryan McMahon. Peralta tried to throw the ball before he fielded it; this allowed the runner to reach second. He ultimately scored on a play that wasn’t an error only because of the way the rule reads, but it was still a misplay. Rojas fielded a grounder by Daza with McMahon on third. McMahon broke for home. A good throw would have had him, but Rojas’ throw was off target.
Let’s re-create the eighth inning. McMahon hit a single but advanced to second on the Peralta error. He advanced to third after tagging up on a fly to right. If the same play happens with McMahon on first, he does not advance. McMahon scored on the grounder to second thanks to the errant throw. If that grounder happens with McMahon still on first, it could have easily been an inning-ending double play. Ouch.
A Bright Spot
The batter who hit that ground ball, Daza, did not score thanks to the aforementioned play by Reddick. It was one of the few positives of the entire series. The new guy — Reddick — made a slick defensive play, barehanding a one-hopper off the wall, and made a perfect throw to the relay man. Rojas — who made two misplays earlier — threw a strike to the plate. Daza slid feet-first to the outside and stuck his left hand out to touch the plate. Varsho’s tag blocked his hand. So, not only was the throw perfect, but Varsho tagged the only part of Daza’s body that could touch the plate. Furthermore, he did it in a way that blocked his hand from moving. It was beautiful all the way around.
After the game, manager Torey Lovullo said about the play, “Those are the types of plays that we usually thrive on. A cut and a relay is a great team moment and a great bonding moment. There is so much trust and reliability on one another to execute and get the play made.” He finished by saying, “Those are the plays we’re accustomed to making. It was a great team moment.”
Looking Ahead
The Diamondbacks come home for a nine-game homestand beginning Tuesday. They have two games against the San Francisco Giants, four against the St. Louis Cardinals, and three against the New York Mets. The Giants just got swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers to fall from first to third place. As for the Cardinals and Mets, both are in first place. However, the Cardinals have lost seven of their past eleven games, while the Mets are 3–7 in their last ten games. The Mets have received several pieces of bad news on the injury front.
With Carson Kelly returning for Tuesday’s game, there is optimism abuzz. He is the team’s best hitter right now, so that could provide a spark. Another spark might come from the fact that Tuesday is the day that Chase Field opens up. This is a team that gets a boost from their home fans, but they need to make sure they give their fans something to cheer about. It’s a long season, so there’s still plenty of time to get back on the right track.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
Players/managers mentioned:
Seth Frankoff, Madison Bumgarner, Taylor Widener, Joe Mantiply, Kevin Ginkel, Joakim Soria, Alex Young, C.J. Cron, Caleb Smith, Stefan Crichton, Riley Smith, Taylor Clarke, Trevor Story, Josh Rojas, Josh Reddick, Yonathan Daza, Domingo Leyba, Eduardo Escobar, Pavin Smith, Stephen Vogt, Ryan McMahon, Torey Lovullo, Carson Kelly
