{"id":47267,"date":"2021-05-25T15:09:48","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T19:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=47267"},"modified":"2021-05-25T15:09:48","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T19:09:48","slug":"diamondbacks-rockies-sweep-2021052123","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2021\/05\/25\/diamondbacks-rockies-sweep-2021052123\/","title":{"rendered":"Diamondbacks Report: Rockies Sweep in Depth"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Diamondbacks Report: Rockies Sweep in Depth<\/h2>\n<p>This was supposed to be the turnaround series. A three-gamer in a hitter\u2019s paradise against the last-place team in the NL West was what the reeling <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2021\/03\/31\/2021-arizona-diamondbacks-preview\/\" target=\"_self\">Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/category\/rockies\/\" target=\"_self\">Colorado Rockies<\/a>. Here\u2019s an in-depth look at what happened.<\/p>\n<h3>Diamondbacks Pitching versus Rockies<\/h3>\n<h4>Starters<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/onedrive.live.com\/embed?resid=AF62A2DD5084DD25%2120684&amp;authkey=%21ANkNFxC-l6fIDiY&amp;em=2&amp;wdAllowInteractivity=False&amp;Item='StPit'!A1%3AZ5&amp;wdHideGridlines=True&amp;wdInConfigurator=True\" width=\"700\" height=\"147\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s not an expression \u2014 the Diamondbacks did not score at all while he was in the game. Still, though, his Game Score of 29 indicates a lousy outing.<\/p>\n<p>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 \u2014 allowing only one homer, at least \u2014 leading to a disappointing Game Score of 34. (In Coors Field, allowing one home run definitely qualifies as \u201conly.\u201d) 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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<h4>Relievers<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/onedrive.live.com\/embed?resid=AF62A2DD5084DD25%2120684&amp;authkey=%21ANkNFxC-l6fIDiY&amp;em=2&amp;wdAllowInteractivity=False&amp;Item='RelPit'!A1%3AAG10&amp;wdHideGridlines=True&amp;wdInConfigurator=True\" width=\"670\" height=\"247\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The relievers pitched better than the starters, despite facing an uphill battle all series. Of the 11 times a reliever entered the game \u2014 including when relieving a fellow reliever \u2014 the Diamondbacks were behind seven times. They only held the lead three times.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Three relievers had scoreless outings \u2014 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.<\/p>\n<p>Caleb Smith also did well in his three innings, allowing only one run. These three innings came in emergency duty due to Widener\u2019s injury. Four other relievers pitched in the series \u2014 Stefan Crichton, Alex Young, Riley Smith, and Taylor Clarke. They each allowed one run. Crichton\u2019s was Sunday\u2019s walk-off homer by Trevor Story. Riley Smith entered the game behind and fell further behind. This also happened in one of Young\u2019s 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\u2019s throw home that was relayed by Rojas to nab Yonathan Daza at the plate.<\/p>\n<h3>Diamondbacks Hitting versus Rockies<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/onedrive.live.com\/embed?resid=AF62A2DD5084DD25%2120684&amp;authkey=%21ANkNFxC-l6fIDiY&amp;em=2&amp;wdAllowInteractivity=False&amp;Item='Batting'!A1%3AQ15&amp;wdHideGridlines=True&amp;wdInConfigurator=True\" width=\"627\" height=\"330\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4>Overall Hitting<\/h4>\n<p>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 \u2014 .120. Performance like that makes one wonder if it\u2019s something as simple as being much better against pitchers using the windup versus pitching out of the stretch.<\/p>\n<p>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 \u2014 Domingo Leyba \u2014 is 0-for-the-season, hitless in 14 at-bats.<\/p>\n<h4>Timely Hitting\u2026or Lack Thereof<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/onedrive.live.com\/embed?resid=AF62A2DD5084DD25%2120684&amp;authkey=%21ANkNFxC-l6fIDiY&amp;em=2&amp;wdAllowInteractivity=False&amp;Item='Batting'!A18%3AQ32&amp;wdHideGridlines=True&amp;wdInConfigurator=True\" width=\"627\" height=\"340\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/onedrive.live.com\/embed?resid=AF62A2DD5084DD25%2120684&amp;authkey=%21ANkNFxC-l6fIDiY&amp;em=2&amp;wdAllowInteractivity=False&amp;Item='Batting'!A34%3AQ49&amp;wdHideGridlines=True&amp;wdInConfigurator=True\" width=\"627\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/onedrive.live.com\/embed?resid=AF62A2DD5084DD25%2120684&amp;authkey=%21ANkNFxC-l6fIDiY&amp;em=2&amp;wdAllowInteractivity=False&amp;Item='Batting'!A51%3AQ65&amp;wdHideGridlines=True&amp;wdInConfigurator=True\" width=\"627\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The situation gets worse when looking in detail at RBI situations. They have struggled with \u201ctimely hitting\u201d 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.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019t 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\u2019s head is more difficult to do.<\/p>\n<h3>Uncharacteristic Play in the Field<\/h3>\n<p>The normally sure-handed Diamondbacks made three errors in this series, and all were costly. One was a fielding error by Escobar in Saturday\u2019s game; that led to two unearned runs in a game that ended 7\u20136. 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.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019t 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\u2019 throw was off target.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<h3>A Bright Spot<\/h3>\n<p>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 \u2014 Reddick \u2014 made a slick defensive play, barehanding a one-hopper off the wall, and made a perfect throw to the relay man. Rojas \u2014 who made two misplays earlier \u2014 threw a strike to the plate. Daza slid feet-first to the outside and stuck his left hand out to touch the plate. Varsho\u2019s tag blocked his hand. So, not only was the throw perfect, but Varsho tagged the only part of Daza\u2019s body that <em>could<\/em> touch the plate. Furthermore, he did it in a way that blocked his hand from moving. It was beautiful all the way around.<\/p>\n<p>After the game, manager Torey Lovullo said about the play, \u201cThose 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.\u201d He finished by saying, \u201cThose are the plays we\u2019re accustomed to making. It was a great team moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Looking Ahead<\/h3>\n<p>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\u20137 in their last ten games. The Mets have received several pieces of bad news on the injury front.<\/p>\n<p>With Carson Kelly returning for Tuesday\u2019s game, there is optimism abuzz. He is the team\u2019s 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\u2019s a long season, so there\u2019s still plenty of time to get back on the right track.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"cvFpMbP9T9NzRw4zWsw5ZQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1319670284\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'cvFpMbP9T9NzRw4zWsw5ZQ',sig:'ZAl1FADJzCLTv2TcRGmL2qSJlUxHTqdLj241jN4uUso=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1319670284',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Players\/managers mentioned:<br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/frankse01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seth Frankoff<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bumgama01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Madison Bumgarner<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/widenta01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Taylor Widener<\/a>, <\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mantijo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Mantiply<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/ginkeke01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Ginkel<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/soriajo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joakim Soria<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngal01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Young<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/croncj01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">C.J. Cron<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=smithca03,smith-014cal,smith-012cal,smith-015cal&amp;search=Caleb+Smith&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Caleb Smith<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/crichst01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stefan Crichton<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/smithri01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Riley Smith<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/clarkta01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Taylor Clarke<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/storytr01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trevor Story<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rojasjo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Rojas<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reddijo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Reddick<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dazayo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yonathan Daza<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/leybado01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Domingo Leyba<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/e\/escobed01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eduardo Escobar<\/a><\/strong>,<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/smithpa04.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pavin Smith<\/a><\/strong>,<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vogtst01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Vogt<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mcmahry01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan McMahon<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/managers\/lovulto01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Torey Lovullo<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kellyca02.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carson Kelly<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Diamondbacks Report: Rockies Sweep in Depth This was supposed to be the turnaround series. A three-gamer in a hitter\u2019s 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2901,"featured_media":47273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,2],"tags":[106,4645],"class_list":["post-47267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diamondbacks","category-featured","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-diamondbacks-featured"],"modified_by":"Evan Thompson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}