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Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #113: 8/4 vs. Padres

2025-08-04T16:50:00-04:00

Photo by Kelsey Grant/Arizona Diamondbacks/Getty Images

Super early Gameday Thread, because of the switch-over

You may have noticed that this Gameday Thread is going up about four hours earlier than usual. That’s because tonight sees the Great Migration, with all of SB Nation moving over onto a different platform. To facilitate that, all sites will be frozen at 2 pm Arizona time, until the migration has been completed, as tome point tomorrow morning. No new content will be permitted during that time, so if there wasn’t a super-early GDT, there would not be a GDT at all. Also due to this, there will be no recap of tonight’s game. Normal service will be resumed, hopefully, with tomorrow morning’s Snake Bytes. which is coming to you from our Eastmost regular writer, DbacksEurope. Fingers crossed, anyway...

As for this game, we will see whether the D-backs can build on the series win over the Athletics in [this city intentionally left blank], as they face a likely sterner challenge in the Padres. San Diego come in possessing the third wild-card spot in the NL, but it is a fairly comfortable position, with a four-game lead over the Reds, then six over the Giants and... wait, what? the Marlins? Yeah, over the last fifty games, Miami has basically been close to the best team in the majors. Their dismal start probably means it’s still going to be too late - Fangraphs gives them a 1.7% chance of making the playoffs. But perhaps they can build on that going forward for next year.

Which is basically what the D-backs are looking to do. While it’s a feeble sample size, it does seem that getting something for Eugenio Suarez might have been wise. He hasn’t exactly hit the ground running for Seattle: 2-for-17 with no walks, five strikeouts and an OPS+ of -16. Yep: negative. But we’ll see. Back at Chase Field, hard to say who has the edge in starting pitching with this one, because neither Brandon Pfaadt nor J.P. Sears have covered themselves in glory. Both have been prone to the long ball: between them, the two pitchers have allowed 43 in 226.1 innings. So I’d be inclined to expect a high-scoring battle tonight.

And with that, I’m locking the doors on the SnakePit. See you all tomorrow for a glorious future!

Series Preview #37 : Diamondbacks vs Padres

2025-08-04T16:00:00-04:00

Tyler Locklear on base. | Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images

Plenty of players are new to each team.

Trade-Acquired Diamondbacks to Watch.

Tyler Locklear, 1B. He made a change to his swing that helped his batting, which might be impressive with the Diamondbacks. Although he is 24.7 years old, he could be a late bloomer, similar to Christian Walker.

“Now, his hands start lower — below the letters on his jersey, sitting under the shoulders — which seems to be giving him more control and better rhythm as he moves into the zone.” — Tremayne Person, June of 2025.

Trade-Acquired Padres to Watch.

Ramon Laureani, Left Field. OPS+146 with Orioles.

Ryan O’Hearn, DH. OPS+ 135 with Orioles.

Mason Miller, Reliever. ERA+ 111 with As.

JP Sears, Rotation. ERA+ 84 with As.

Freddy Fermin, catcher.

Bryce Johnson, Outfield. Padres re-acquired him in an April trade. This season, his 118 OPS+ is by far his career best.

Promoted Padres to Watch.

Ryan Bergert, Rookie Starter. He was promoted on 26 April. His 152 ERA+ is amazing.

David Morgan, Rookie Reliever. He was promoted on 26 May. His 2.08 ERA in his first 26 innings is remarkable.

What to look for each day.

In addition to their new first baseman, Diamondbacks fans can watch new players with an eye towards their possible roles next season.

Monday, 6:40 PM MST.

Brandon Pfaadt. In June & July (prior to the All-Star break), his FIP improved from 4.93 to 4.52, while his ERA worsened from 5.05 to 5.16. Perhaps his improved FIP predicted his ERA improvement (4.76 ERA after All-Star break).

JP Sears. Former A’s pitcher, he will start for the Padres. This season, his 4.95 ERA is about the same as Brandon Pfaadt.

This matchup of starting pitchers is a toss up. My thoughts wandered to the song Eye of the Tiger, which was NOT sung by Sylvester Stallone.

Tuesday, 6:40 PM MST.

Ryne Nelson. In his 13 games as a starter, his ERA was 2.71. With a little luck, he will be credited with a win.

Yu Darvish. His season started in July. He pitched five games with a 6.46 ERA. However, he may have found how to get back on target. His latest start was the only one with an above average game score of 80.

This matchup of starting pitchers is advantage Diamondbacks. My thoughts wandered to the song Luck be a Lady as sung by Marlon Brando.

Wednesday, 6:40 PM MST.

Anthony DeSclafani. This season he has started two games with an 11.37 ERA. Even if he had only allowed one run in each of the two games, the Diamondbacks would have lost. Therefore, the impact of his extreme ERA was not extreme. Let’s hope he pitches well.

TBA, possibly Nick Pivetta. In 22 games this season, his 2.73 ERA was remarkable.

This matchup of starting pitchers is advantage Padres. My thoughts wandered to the song High Hopes sung by Frank Sinatra.

Minor League Roundup: Pena Brings the Pain

2025-08-04T13:00:00-04:00

Pena hit a home run with this swing back in June, and hit four more this week as he led the Sod Poodles to a series win | Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images

Manuel Pena dominated in a successful week for the Sod Poodles and the farm system as a whole. Also, there was a lot of player movement, and we look at the state of the farm system at catcher and first base

It was a whirlwind of a week that saw many transactions thanks to the trade deadline. After the recap of the week’s events, a look at where people are now, and then the beginnings of a look at the overall farm system.

The Week That Was

It was a successful week for the system overall, as Reno and Hillsboro split series, and Amarillo and Visalia took four of six. The Rawhide trail surprising Inland Empire by two games, while the Sod Poodles have a five game lead and a 20-13 record in the second half despite being outscored. In the DSL, the Black squad went 3-2 and the Red squad went 2-3, with both teams being 2-2 until they played each other. Overall, that’s a 19-15 week.

Batter of the Week

Manuel Pena, Amarillo (11-for-27, 4 HR, 11 RBI, .437 RC/PA)

To say Pena had a good week would be an understatement. He practically carried the offense through much of the week, driving in 11 runs, hitting four home runs and only striking out three times. A week with more home runs than strikeouts? Seems pretty good.

He did this despite also moving back to second base for much of the week. His offense and defense had both suffered when playing the middle infield previously, and he’d mostly split time with Ivan Melendez between DH and 1B while also spelling LuJames Groover at 3B so far this year. With Ben McLaughlin joining the Soddies and removing the option of a platoon at 1B, he’s likely to play more 2B if he can be serviceable there.

It’s important to note that while Pena has pretty significant home/road splits, he doesn’t have much in the way of platoon splits. His OPS against LHP is just 30 points behind his OPS against RHP.

Starting Pitchers of the Week

Michael Cuviello / Amarillo Globe-News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Ruckus was glad to watch a win in both halves of Thursday’s doubleheader, thanks largely to Cabrera and Angelo

Jose Cabrera, Amarillo (6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K)

Roman Angelo, Amarillo (5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K)

Wilkin Paredes, Hillsboro (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K)

Honoring both Cabrera and Angelo makes sense, because both started on Wednesday as the Soddies played a doubleheader and both kept the bullpen from overuse. They put the Soddies on track to win both halves of the doubleheader, although the second game required some late heroics from Pena to win it.

Paredes didn’t put up much in the way of strikeout numbers, but he worked more innings than any other starter and didn’t allow a run. More impressively, he needed only 75 pitches to work those seven innings.

Relief Pitchers of the Week

Landon Sims, Amarillo (2 G, 2 IP, 0 R, W, S, 1 K)

Daniel Nunez, Hillsboro (W, 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R 1 BB, 5 K)

Sims finished out the second game of the doubleheader on Thursday and followed that up with a save on Friday. It was the second time in two weeks that he worked consecutive days after never having done so in his professional or collegiate career.

Nunez is normally a starter, but piggybacked off of Daniel Eagen this week and was excellent after some initial struggles. He gave up a single, hit a batter and after a sacrifice bunt, issued an intentional walk. He struck out the next five batters he faced.

Movements Throughout the System

Releases

Players given their release this past week were Braden Quinn, Anthony Gose, Conor Grammes, and Jackson Feltner. With draft picks being activated this week, there will probably be a flurry of activity, and we might learn what draft picks might be seen this year.

New Faces

Ashton Izzi, acquired in the Josh Naylor trade, went to Hillsboro. Brandyn Garcia briefly went to Reno before being called up and then optioned back down. Kohl Drake and Juan Burgos (acquired for Merrill Kelly and Eugenio Suarez, respectively) went to Reno, while David Hagaman went to Hillsboro and Mitch Bratt and Hunter Cranton went to Amarillo. Andrew Hoffman also went to Reno.

Moving Up

Dennis Lee-Imagn Images

After completing his comeback from thoracic outlet surgery, Nelson picked up his first save

Kyle Nelson had his contract selected from Reno, marking his return to the big leagues after thoracic outlet surgery. Connor Kaiser made his Diamondbacks’ debut after his contract was selected. Jack Hurley made his return to Amarillo after a stint in the complex. Tommy Troy and Ivan Melendez both moved up to Reno (and both performed well after moving up.) Ben McLaughlin moved from Hillsboro to Amarillo, while Ruben Santana moved from Visalia to Hillsboro and Enyervert Perez moved from the complex to Visalia.

Moving Down

Yilber Diaz was sent from Reno to Amarillo to hopefully find some control. His first appearance went well. Tristin English was optioned to Reno.

Moving to Lists

Placed on injured lists were Jeff Brigham, Tim Tawa, and new acquisition Hunter Cranton. Moving to the development list were Taylor Rashi (who was then reactivated), Jeremiah Boyd, and Jake Rice. Still on the big league injured list is Jalen Beeks, who made a rehab appearance at Reno but given that he wasn’t traded, might be having more issues.

Farm System Recap: Catcher and First Base

Prospect rankings are, in general, incredibly misunderstood. People or publications will rate 20, 30, or more players. But there might well be a larger gap in expected future performance between the number one prospect and the number two prospect than there is between the number two prospect and the number ten prospect, or even seventeen. Because the lists are presented as linear rankings, that fact gets obscured despite consistent reminders.

I’ve generally not done prospect rankings. But with the draft and the trade deadline now past, it’s something that interests people. James has posted his updated top 30 list

But this is a different type of rating.

Rather than rank players 1-20, 1-30, or 1-53, I prefer to group players by position. Within positions, I identify players by tiers. I rate either everyone in the organization or as close to everyone as I can get. (It’s hard to rate players in the DSL and to a lesser extent in the ACL, as finding footage and data for them is pretty difficult, and there are catchers at lower levels who are basically coaches, so I’ve set a line of 50 plate appearances for those levels.) Here are the tiers:

Tier I: These are the potential star players, guys who could turn into perennial All Stars or franchise cornerstones. Potential ace pitchers also fit here. Teams aren’t going to have very many of these.

Tier II: These are players who show the potential to be regular starters. They likely won’t be stars, and you aren’t going to build a team around them, but you need a lot of them on a team. Mid-rotation starters and late-inning relievers fit here.

Tier III: These are the bench players, replacement players, fifth starters, long relievers, etc. Essentially guys who are necessary for every team to have, but if you’re asking them to start, you’re probably having a disappointing season. Ideally, you’d have a decent stable of these guys at AAA as injury replacements.

Tier IV: This is the organizational filler tier.

The tiers shouldn’t be taken as rankings. Kayson Cunningham is a Tier I player in this system, but that doesn’t mean that I think he is a better prospect or a more sure thing than Jordan Lawlar or Slade Caldwell. His floor is lower than Lawlar’s. Lawlar has shown the ability to hit AAA pitching. He’s injury prone and has struggled in his brief big league stints, but if you asked me who I’d rather have in the system, I’d still take Lawlar.

There are, by my ratings, nine positions, but the two corner outfield positions are combined and starting and relief pitching is separated. Rather than projecting what position someone might be at in the future, I put them in the position where the organization is using them in the present.

With that said, here are the first two positions: catcher and first base. Players are listed within tiers in alphabetical order, so do not read their positioning within tiers as any sort of ranking.

Catchers

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Ivan Luciano may be the top catcher according to many, but Cerda and Virahonda give the Diamondbacks three potential future starters at the position.

Adrian Del Castillo has exceeded rookie limits and thus graduated from prospect rankings, as far as I’m concerned.

Tier I: None

Tier II: Christian Cerda, Ivan Luciano, Carlos Virahonda

Cerda was the lottery ticket acquired for David Peralta in 2022. At the time, his ceiling was a catcher with average defense and above-average power. He’s not really shown much of the power and is a low-average hitter, leading to some people writing him off. But he draws his walks and doesn’t strike out much. He’s posting a 103 wRC+ in Amarillo despite a .242 BABIP, which is a career low. He walked more than he struck out in 2023. The defense needs a bit of work, but is better than Adrian Del Castillo’s or Daulton Varsho’s before he moved to the outfield permanently.

Luciano was a second-round pick last year and while I’d say he has higher upside than Cerda, it’s pretty close. He did well at the complex this year, posting a 111 wRC+ and throwing out 29% of would-be base stealers. There’s work to be done on his receiving, but that’s expected for a teenager new to the system.

Virahonda is probably the surprise here. He did briefly get some attention after a 2023 season where he posted a 133 wRC+ in the DSL, but he apparently had some defensive struggles. His bat cratered to a 45 wRC+ in 2024 which caused some to forget about him, but he still wasn’t striking out a ton and had a .183 BABIP. Plus, he cut his passed balls from seven in 232.2 innings to two in 277 innings, and threw out an astounding 47% of base stealers. He was brought stateside and has continued to show improvement. There’s still some work to be done defensively, but he’s still throwing well and receiving and blocking better than many at the level. Plus, he dominated the complex with the bat and earned a promotion to Visalia. Still 19, he’s continuing to show promise with the bat there.

Tier III: Kenny Castillo, Santiago Gil, Gavin Logan, Jose Urbina

Castillo has good size (6’2”, 170) and shows occasional flashes of better potential than his overall results indicate. He is inconsistent defensively and offensively, sometimes looking the part of a prospect and other times looking lost. He’ll have to become much more consistent to reach his potential.

Gil is a 17-year-old in his first season, and he just turned 17 at the end of May. He’s walked as much as he’s struck out, hasn’t allowed a passed ball, and has thrown out 23.8% of baserunners. His catching is going to need work, but doing this at 17 shows promise.

Logan is not a prospect, but he’s a guy who just might wind up getting a cup of coffee at some point. His defense is solid enough that the Diamondbacks trust him to handle the pitchers at AAA, and he’s a patient hitter, posting high walk rates but similarly high strikeout numbers.

Urbina is still in the DSL, and in the limited amount that I’ve been able to see him, appears to receive well for the level and was an above-average hitter in 2024. He’s struggled with the bat this year, and he’s basically the same age as Virahonda, but I sense some potential.

Tier IV: Alberto Barriga, Jeremiah Boyd, Adrian De Leon, J.J. D’Orazio, Johan Fernandez, Robert Lantigua, David Martin.

Barriga showed bat-to-ball skills and solid defense. But he’s quite small for a catcher and has dealt with a leg injury already in his career.

Boyd is organizational filler and being used as such. He’s a veteran who is an emergency catcher when needed for whichever team needs a catcher.

De Leon is also small (shorter than Barriga but stouter) and has struggled with the bat, posting strikeout rates over 25% at every level north of the DSL. He posts decent walk numbers, but lacks the potential pop to make that combination of skills work.

D’Orazio is one of the better defensive catchers in the system, but his bat has never developed. With a wRC+ of 53, he’s not going to find himself in AAA.

Fernandez is another decent catcher in the DSL who has performed well offensively, but as far as I’ve seen doesn’t have the upside of Gil.

Lantigua is 18 in the DSL, and hasn’t been good with the bat. He’s walked more than he’s struck out, so he has that going for him.

Martin is currently injured and is organizational filler.

First Base

Dennis Lee-Imagn Images

Tyler Locklear is going to have to hold down first base for a while, as the next players with the potential to be regular and productive starters at the position are far away

Tier I: None

Tier II: Feliz Genao, Tyler Locklear, Enyervert Perez

That the second tier consists of Locklear and two guys in rookie ball shows the issues the Diamondbacks have at this position. If Locklear does not work out, it’ll be back to the trade or free agent market to fill the position, or hope that one of the Tier III guys manages to find some success.

Genao is a 17-year-old who signed last winter for $400K. He’s a left-handed hitter who is 6’3”, 200 pounds. Since he’s 17, there might still be a little bit of growth remaining and there’s certainly the chance to add muscle. But he has yet to hit a home run despite projecting to have above-average power, because he’s hitting the ball on the ground too often. He is hitting it hard, enabling a high BABIP and therefore big numbers (163 wRC+) but is going to have to learn to elevate the ball.

Locklear is pretty well known and is the current starting first baseman in the desert, and will graduate from prospect lists soon, barring unforeseen circumstances.

Perez is a right-handed bat who led the DSL in extra base hits in 2024, including six home runs. He added five home runs in the complex this year. He hits the ball to all fields. There’s still a lot of swing-and-miss, though. The Diamondbacks have tried him at third base some, but more at first, and he certainly seems ill-suited to third defensively, committing six errors in just 165 innings there this season. He was just promoted to Visalia.

Tier III: Pedro Blanco, Tristin English, Ben McLaughlin, Ivan Melendez, Ramy Peralta, Manuel Pena, Ruben Santana

Blanco moved to the complex this year at 18 and posted below-average offense, but he has the size and a bit of speed, although he is defensively limited.

English has already reached the big leagues and therefore is entrenched in this tier. He didn’t have a great run, but doubling off Paul Skenes for your first career hit isn’t bad, at all.

McLaughlin is a patient left-handed hitter who was just promoted to Amarillo. He walks a lot, doesn’t strike out a ton, and has some pop. In order to make it, he’ll have to show he can be more than just a platoon bat.

Melendez is well-known, but less well-known is that he’s finally shown some progress this year, cutting his strikeouts while retaining power. He finally got promoted to AAA and celebrated with a grand slam. But he still strikes out too much to be relied upon as a big league option.

Peralta is still listed as a catcher but hasn’t played there this year. He’s athletic though, even making an appearance at shortstop, but has mostly played first base. He’s walked a lot but also struck out a lot.

Pena was a big-ticket international signing who disappointed, struggling offensively and defensively. But he started showing progress last year, and has continued that this year, finally being an above-average bat. He needs to be a bit more patient at the plate, but it’s still good to see the improved results.

Santana was expected to move through the system with Cristofer Torin and Jansel Luis, but after a disappointing season found himself stuck at Visalia. He’s got the potential for a good power-speed combo and has played a lot of third base as well, but there’s a lot of progress needed here. He did just get promoted to Hillsboro, so we will see how he does there.

Tier IV: Diosfran Cabeza, Modeifi Marte

Cabeza is 22 and promoted to Visalia this year, and he’s struggled mightily offensively. When he was still a switch-hitting catcher, he didn’t need to improve a lot offensively, but now that he’s entrenched at first base he’s on his way out the door.

Marte has improved offensively this year but is still below-average. The organization is at the point of trying him in the outfield to see if they can extract some value, but there seems little future here.

Up Next

All full-season affiliates are on the road this week, with Reno in Tacoma, Amarillo at arch-rival Midland, Hillsboro at Vancouver, and Visalia at San Jose.

Next week will be a look at the people manning the other three infield spots throughout the system.

Snake Bytes, 8/4: Sacramento Kings

2025-08-04T10:00:00-04:00

The D-backs won their first post-deadline series

Recaps

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks end series drought, beat Athletics - Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen addressed his team before their series began here a few days ago. The trade deadline behind them, Hazen wanted to explain the moves he made, but he also wanted to deliver a message. The remaining games matter, he told them — and they could help shape the future of this organization. For center fielder Alek Thomas, the message resonated. “This is our chance to prove ourselves and try to go out there and win games,” Thomas said after the Diamondbacks beat the Athletics, 6-4, on Sunday afternoon, August 3, to end what had been a miserable road trip on a positive note. “There are people in this clubhouse that are important — important to the future of the organization. I appreciate him coming in and saying that.” Thomas is one of those people.

[Dbacks.com] Well-rounded offensive showing gives D-backs rubber match win over A's - Blaze Alexander homered for the first time this season and Alek Thomas continued his recent surge at the plate with three hits as the Diamondbacks beat the Athletics, 6-4, on Sunday afternoon at Sutter Health Park. The D-backs won their first series since July 18-20 in St. Louis, and Torey Lovullo’s ballclub has now won back-to-back games after losing six of the first seven of this nine-game road trip. Eduardo Rodriguez allowed two runs and six hits over five innings. The lefty had five strikeouts and three walks. Tyler Locklear reached base three times and Geraldo Perdomo added three hits to help the Diamondbacks to their third consecutive series win over the A’s.

Team news

[Dbacks Under Review] D-backs Ride Momentum Into Homestand After Series Win in Sacramento - In these last two games, the team is doing things they’ve struggled to do in their previous 10 games. They’re linking at-bats, executing what the at-bat calls for, pushing the pedal to the metal, and they aren’t missing opportunities. In the series finale, they finished the day 5-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Eight of the nine starters in the lineup reached base via a hit or walk in the game... The D-backs snapped a six-game losing streak in a 7-2 win on Saturday, behind another Zac Gallen quality start and some timely hits from the lineup. They had scored eight runs in their previous seven games. “It just felt different in the clubhouse this morning,” third baseman Blaze Alexander told DbacksTV reporter Todd Walsh. “We were playing some music, the vibes were good, good breakfast, just really good vibes. We got a losing streak off our back, now it’s time for a win streak.”

[SI] The Diamondbacks Won a Series and Looked Good Doing It - The D-backs bullpen shouldered a somewhat heavy load this weekend, throwing 12.2 innings. They combined to allow just three runs on nine hits, three walks, and eight strikeouts. The lone homer was a solo shot given up by Kyle Nelson, who had a three-run cushion in game three, and nailed down the save anyway. The workload was spread around. Nelson, Andrew Saalfrank, Kendall Graveman and John Curtiss each worked twice. Jake Woodford threw 2.1 innings of long relief in game one. Jalen Beeks and Kevin Ginkel each worked only once in the series. Somehow, Torey Lovullo has been piecing together decent production from this bullpen of late. He'll have to continue to do so, as Shelby Miller was traded to the Brewers July 31.

[Dbacks.com] Locklear 'welcomed with open arms', embracing new role with D-backs - Locklear wasn’t expecting to be traded, but shrugged his shoulders when the deal went down. In his short time in the Majors, the 24-year-old has learned clearly that baseball is a business before anything else. As a player or manager, you are part of that business and subject to being traded at the drop of a dime. So when the Diamondbacks made the deal to acquire him, Locklear was not surprised in the least. “Just part of it, honestly,” he said. “Thankfully I was able to come into a locker room like this, be welcomed with open arms, so it was really cool.”

Minor league report

It was as pretty awful day on the farm, with an 0-4 performance.

Las Vegas 16, Reno 6

The Aces actually led in this one. Unfortunately it was short lived. Seth Brown and Ivan Melendez doubled in the first, and Tommy Troy drove in two with a double in his first AAA at bat in the second. But it was a 4-4 tie, and the Aces stranded the bases loaded in the third, and it all fell apart from there.

The Bryce Jarvis starting experiment (version 2.0) may be reaching another inauspicious end. For he failed to get out of the third inning and allowed nine runs on ten hits, including four home runs. That’s not what you want to see from a pitcher who has been declared the next man up for the rotation. Trevor Richards allowed three runs, but all of them in the last inning of a long outing. Brandyn Garcia allowed a solo home run, Juan Burgos allowed two runs on three hits, and Albert Almora Jr. allowed a run on two hits. All told, the pitching allowed 19 hits, six of which were home runs, and another six of which were doubles or triples.

That negated some offensive highlights. Anyone watching Kristian Robinson could tell you that he could hit the ball incredibly hard, but he showed it with his first home run, which traveled 424 feet to right-center, left the bat at 104.7 MPH, and wasn’t his hardest hit ball of the night. Six of his 15 batted balls in AAA have been over 100 MPH. Tommy Troy doubled twice in his debut and added a walk. Ivan Melendez doubled and singled. Gavin Logan picked up two more hits.

Wichita 16, Amarillo 8

But however disappointing the result in Reno might have been, events at Hodgetown were doubly so. For the Sod Poodles Calf Fries led by multiple runs going into the bottom of the ninth, and still wound up losing by what appears to be a blowout.

The home side build a 6-4 lead through five innings behind three home runs. Jose Fernandez started the scoring with a solo shot for his 12th, Manuel Pena collected his 12th in the following inning to tie things 3-3. Ben McLaughlin hit the first of his AA career to re-tie things at four in the fourth, and Jack Hurley, Ryan Waldschmidt, and LuJames Groover each collected hits in the fifth to make it 6-4. Single runs in the sixth and seventh (both charged to Casey Anderson) tied things up again. But the fifth home run from Caleb Roberts was the lone two-run shot and made things 8-6 after eight innings.

Zane Russell came on to pitch the ninth and things did not go well. To the tune of five batters faced, three hits, two walks, and a wild pitch. He was pulled for Dan Kubiuk with things 9-8. Kubiuk got a groundout that made it 10-8, before a double made it 11-8. A pop-out left hope that things could be kept within a reasonable distance, but four more hits (the last of which was a home run) put things in the realm of mostly out of reach, even for Hodgetown. The Soddies went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

Spokane 2, Hillsboro 1, 10 innings

A tight game ended in ignominious fashion when Carlos Rey fielded a sacrifice bunt attempt and threw the ball into right field, allowing Ye Olde Zombie Caleb Hobson to score.

Hobson had also scored the first Indians’ run on a sacrifice fly all the way back in the first inning. In between eight scoreless innings with ten strikeouts were provided by the combination of Junior Sanchez, Victor Morales, Rocco Reid, and Sam Knowlton.

The Hops tied things up in the seventh as Angel Ortiz led off with a double and reached third on a fielder’s choice and error, as Druw Jones hit a ground ball to short, but third baseman Blake Wright failed to hold the throw. Modeifi Marte drove him home with a sacrifice fly.

In addition to Ortiz’s double, Slade Caldwell, Jones, and Adrian De Leon all had singles.

Modesto 8, Visalia 4

Logan Mercado and Alvin Guzman had poor outings and the offense couldn’t keep up despite a great day from Carlos Virahonda and support from Trent Youngblood, Yassel Soler, Yerald Nin, and Alexander Benua. Ultimately, it was trouble with runners in scoring position; they went just 2-for-14 in that situation and left 12 on base.

Leadoff batter Austin St. Laurent gave the nuts a lead, but the Rawhide instantly responded, as Youngblood singled and stole his 20th base of the season. Carlos Virahonda rendered the stolen base unimportant with his second home run. Virahonda also drove in the third run of the game, as Nin walked, stole his 26th base, advanced to third on a groundout by Youngblood, and scored on a groundout by Virahonda. Virahonda scored the fourth run after a ninth inning single.

Grayson Hitt was the pick of the pitchers, striking out three in the ninth after hitting the first batter.

And, elsewhere...

[Awful Announcing] Speedway Classic rain delay turns into a disaster: ‘MLB version of Fyre Fest’ - MLB’s worst nightmare transpired as the Speedway Classic was marred by a torrential rainstorm. After doing everything they could to play the game in monsoon level conditions, MLB finally made the decision to postpone the game until Sunday afternoon. Even the Fox broadcast was unaware that the game had finally been called for the night. But that was only part of the story. Fans in attendance flooded social media with reports that the experience at the speedway was the MLB equivalent of a multi-car pile up. Empty concessions, endless lines, terrible seats, and many more complaints began to surface as the evening rolled on.

[MLB] Only team with an all-time winning record against the Yankees? The Marlins! - With Sunday’s sweep-clinching 7-3 victory over the Yanks, the Marlins are 25-24 all-time versus New York, postseason included. That makes Miami the only MLB team with a winning record against baseball’s 27-time world champions... The Marlins' win on Sunday also got them back to .500 at 55-55. It’s been quite a rapid climb for Miami, which was 16 games under .500 as recently as June 11. The Marlins are now the first team since the 2014 Rays to reach .500 after being at least 16 games under. Only five teams have accomplished that in the Wild Card Era (since 1995), including the 2006 Marlins.

Guest Recaps for August open!

2025-08-03T22:17:55-04:00

Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Out with the old! In with the new!

Every weekend throughout the regular season, we open the doors of the ‘Pit to any member as a guest recapper, who can cover the game from their own unique perspective. You do the recap of the game as a Fanpost, however you want. It can be light-hearted or not; stats-heavy or not, detailed or atmospheric - it’s all about your own voice. One of the editors then takes it, adds the bells and whistles like roll-calls and Fangraphs and it will appear on the front cover of the SnakePit. It’ll also be submitted to Google News, Yahoo! and a bunch of other outlets, so you can amaze your friends and impress your family! We’ll be on hand to help if you have questions on the day.

This is open to everyone: lurkers, commenters or writers elsewhere on the ‘Pit who fancy their hand at recappage. [It’s how quite a number of regular writers here got their start] The Sunday game will be the default one, but it may vary on odd occasions. To sign up, just post a comment, with the date of the game you want to cover. When I spot them, I’ll cross the games off the list. You’ll then get an email, a day or so before, with details. If you haven’t done it before, you need to reply at that point, confirming you’re still up for it. I tend to have more faith in repeat recappers!

Here are the open games for August, as the post-deadline D-backs seek to find their new identity. Might be a good chance of wins against the Rockies, plus facing the Dodgers is always... um, fun. :)

Sun, Aug 3 @ Athletics: 1:05 PM - Imstillhungry95
Sun, Aug 10 vs Colorado: 1:10 PM - KJKrug
Sun, Aug 17 @ Colorado: 12:10 PM - JustRonn
Sun, Aug 24 vs Cincinnati: 1:10 PM - PhoenixSportsFan
Sun, Aug 31 @ Los Angeles: 1:10 PM - therealramona

Snakepit Roundtable: Trade Deadline Reactions

2025-08-03T21:00:00-04:00

Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images

The dust has settled. What does our intrepid group of panelists think of what transpired?

So the deadline has passed, and the Diamondbacks are an (expectedly) drastically different looking team.What move would you rate the highest?

DBacksEurope: I think the Naylor trade. Excited to see what Locklear can do. All other prospects we got back are just a lot of filler. We will throw at least 3 against the wall and hope at least 1 will stick as an uninspiring low-leverage reliever. The kids in AA and A+ … hopefully one of them turns out to be something at the highest level if the Diamondbacks haven’t botched their development before that. We did improve our farm ranking according to FanGraphs and that was Derrick Hall’s major goal. But an improved farm system doesn’t win you any games though.

Spencer: For me it’s a mix of Naylor and Kelly I think. I like the potential upside of Izzi and mixing that with the “safety” of the Kelly arms. I’ll be honest, I expect all to be relievers if they succeed at the MLB level, and the odds of all four even getting a cup of coffee are fairly low, but this is the closest to my goal of young upside and “old” filler that we got this year.

Makakilo: Trading Naylor for Brandyn Garcia (a long reliever immediately) and Ashton Izzi (a likely starter in 2027). Although it’s possible that the return for Suarez was objectively higher, my delight at this unexpected return for Naylor gave it my highest rating.

James: The Naylor trade is sneaky good, especially given the circumstances. I think I am far more bullish on Izzi than some others seem to be. I fully expect him to stick as a starter, albeit one with #3 upside. That’s a valuable pitcher though, especially in exchange for a 2-month rental of an OBP machine. The fact that a power lefty reliever was included in the deal is icing on the cake. I do think Garcia probably needs a bit more refinement before he sticks at the top level, but he’s almost there. With all the moves that were made at the deadline, I would not be surprised if he is back shortly to start getting work in against MLB bats so that he can adjust.

1AZfan1: I love the Kelly trade most. 3 starting pitching prospects at 3 different levels for 2 months of the Mainstay is awesome to me. Maybe none of them are blue-chippers, but this was the only trade that netted us a player who could conceivably be a starting pitcher in Phoenix in 2026. With our roster outlook and financial constraints as it currently stands, that alone is enough for this to be a win in my eyes.

Wesley: I think it’s a tossup between the Naylor deal and the Kelly deal, for the reasons the others have already stated.

Preston: In terms of the return, the Kelly trade was great. Three potential starters, each with potential to be mid-rotation guys? For two months of a solid mid-rotation guy? Incredible.

But getting a guy who I think has late inning reliever upside for Grichuk was also good value.

Ben: The consensus seems to be the Naylor and Kelly trade and it’s hard to argue against either of them. Garcia immediately moves into the bullpen for this year and next while Izzi is more of a project/lottery pick given his age and the level he’s currently playing at. Also have to love the symmetry in acquiring pitchers at every affiliate level!

And the lowest?

DBacksEurope: I think we all hoped for something more in the Suarez trade. With all prospects being tossed around for pitching I can’t help to think that Kelly could have netted something better in return. I also despise the Shelby Miller move. In general the returns were pretty underwhelming and won’t move the needle for this team long term. Maybe we should not have traded anyone and just try and hope for the best in the final months of the season. After all, we did sweep the Cardinals. FanGraphs calls us losers in their trade deadline review because we got zilch for our rental bats, as is the case for rental bats, according to them. Isn’t it more enticing to extend QOs and take the comp picks?

Spencer: In a vacuum I’ll rate the Shelby Miller move as the lowest. All it does is save a few million dollars. If this move was important to make, I have no faith there’s any money to spend for 2026. At least every other move brought back potential future value. The Miller one seems like a desperate money saving move that only saves negligible amounts. To say nothing of the weird optics of sending Montgomery to another team with two months left on his contract. I sincerely hope Milwaukee really wanted him and will sign him to one of those 2 year TJS pillow contracts now. Because otherwise we look like the biggest d!cks in baseball for how we treated a struggling pitcher our owner forced us to sign in the first place...

Makakilo: The trade that did the least to improve the team’s future was trading Shelby Miller and Jordan Montgomery for cash and possibly a player to be named. The upside is that when a Snakepitter wrote that it was the best trade ever, DBE wrote, “Is that you Ken?” and I laughed so hard.

James: The clear loser deal of the deadline is the Shelby Miller move that included the Brewers taking on $2 million of Montgomery’s salary. I highly suspect the move was designed to circumvent some technical issue and to clear Arizona from any sort of responsibility for Montgomery, while also moving the injured Shelby Miller off the roster as well. If Miller had proven himself healthy before the deadline, he probably brings back the biggest return for Arizona of any move made. However, he isn’t healthy yet, so getting anything at all for him was a modest “win” even if it was only some salary relief. With the narrow margins that Arizona has with payroll, I’m not against the team clearing that money from the books now. The one caveat to that is, now that they have cleared the money, they need to identify the right players and reinvest that money back into the roster. If they do that, unlike many others at the Pit, I am fine with Hazen protecting Kendrick’s pocketbook for now. The money will be far more important to spend next season than it will be for the remainder of this season.

1AZfan1: Would I have rather received a low-level, lottery ticket prospect than getting an extra $2 million dollars to play with in free agency? Probably, but I suspect Hazen was told that every dollar he saves for the rest of this year will be available to him in the offseason for free agency (not an ultimatum to slash payroll as some may suggest), and he decided that he wanted that $2 million instead. That’s fine. I’m happy with the prospects that we got back in every other trade. I know that not all of them will work out, but that’s the nature of baseball. I’ll certainly be paying attention to our spending this offseason and seeing how Hazen uses the extra $18 million he cleared from this year’s payroll.

Wesley: I actually don’t mind the Suarez trade. Locklear is probably being underrated and overlooked right now; with the changes he’s made to his swing I think there’s a chance he outplays his projection. The Miller trade is the worst, we gave him away to get rid of Jordan Montgomery.

Preston: I actually don’t mind the Miller trade. It’s not the best by any means, but it had extra layers of difficulty as far as his being injured. I believe what Hazen said in answer to my question: he wasn’t required to save money, but there were no players on offer that he liked more than he liked $2 million in savings. We don’t have access to Miller’s medical reports. The teams and the league do, and the league had to approve any deal because of his injury.

That said, it does nothing to improve the team in 2026, which was the stated goal. So it is the worst, but it’s not bad.

Ben: I also tend to agree that the Suarez trade was disappointing. I think Hazen gambled a little bit and lost out on some higher-end talent when the market shifted after the McMahon trade and the D-Backs continued to sink. I find the Miller/Montgomery trade bewildering. It did little to help Arizona in the short- or middle-term and feels more like a salary dump than anything else. But it’s such a small (relatively) amount that it doesn’t make much sense to me.

And were you surprised by any deals that you thought/wanted to happen?

DBacksEurope: I am so happy to see the Phillies, Mets and Padres loading up on players. The Padres have made terrific trades for their win-now season. This will amount to the thrill that will be the NL postseason. I am sure the Dodgers are shocked.

I was really looking forward to the hyped Luis Robert Jr trade. MLBTR had quite some articles on the worst right-handed platoon bat contract in the world. We were to believe that the White Sox had been contacted by 8 teams, all interested in a mediocre to bad center fielder who only hits lefties (92 PA over the season) though last year he couldn’t even hit those. He is making $20MM this year with a club option for next year. Who is the idiot that invents these rumours?!?! The White Sox will now pick up that $20MM option for next year, “they say”. What insane person would do that? If we didn’t get much for the best available rental bats Naylor and Suarez, what would “reporters” have expected what Luis Robert Jr should have netted? I’m still laughing!

Spencer: Minnesota tearing down completely wasn’t on my radar; I totally expected St Louis to have that type of day but they didn’t though. Neither was SF selling at the edges. I’m disappointed we remain stuck with Gallen but understand to an extent. Pittsburgh continues to amaze with their own moves (how on earth do they still have expiring contracts?!). I don’t think the Mets did enough; that rotation is laughable if you expect to actually win a playoff series.

Makakilo: This season, Gallen did not pitch very well. My concern is that his slump will continue next season, after he accepts a qualifying offer. Yes, he works his ass off, but in this case that is not enough for a QO. I would have been very happy if the Diamondbacks traded Gallen, even for a lottery-ticket prospect.

James: Mostly, I am shocked by some moves other teams did not make, especially the Pirates. How are Pham, McCutcheon, and Heaney still on Pittsburgh’s roster? The Minnesota teardown was quite surprising as well, given that they did not really seem to indicate they were interested in selling much before the deadline. However, I think I am less surprised by it than I am by Pittsburgh since the value the Twins were able to extract from the teardown was impressive.

1AZfan1: If we’re talking across all of baseball, I was very surprised that the Padres were able to swing a trade for Mason Miller. I think that was extremely smart; they still have him for 4ish years on the cheap and I was in favor of exploring a trade for him this offseason directly after the Burnes signing. For the D-backs specifically, I was hopeful that there would have been some way for Hazen to thread the needle, either by pairing Geno and Naylor together or by taking advantage of some desperate front office somewhere, to net one blue-chip pitching prospect. The market didn’t quite materialize the way I hoped.

Wesley: I’m surprised there were no takers for Gallen. No, he hasn’t been very good, but he does have a solid track record and I do think his struggles are fixable.

Preston: I was surprised that Jalen Beeks wasn’t dealt. He seemed more moveable than Miller, and teams were spending on relief help. Part of me would have liked to see Gallen moved, but he’s more likely than Kelly to get a draft pick compensation. Hazen likes his draft picks, and found a top-100 prospect there in 2024. He’ll try to do that again.

The Twins nuked the city of Minneapolis from orbit. Is such a rapid deconstruction a symptom of the haves and have nots, or is it a harbinger of more bad things to come in MLB?

DBacksEurope: I am totally flabbergasted by the Minnesota Twins. The Twins had a bad start of the season but were 7 games up at the middle of May and were above .500 until mid June. They were just 2 games below .500 at the All Star break. That means their team wasn’t that bad to begin with, right? I would say they were probably a few players and a few bouncebacks away from contending. It is incomprehensible what the Twins’ Front Office has done. They traded away their entire team in just a few days. They salary dumped their record signing Carlos Correa, who is struggling but was very good last year. Can the have nots be more like Milwaukee and Tampa? Maybe the Twins’ ownership wanted to clean the ship to sell the team. That would explain a lot. If this were European football, hooligans would have thrashed the offices and the GM would resign out of fear for his and his family’s lives.

Spencer: Neither. I think this is all about a team on the margins saving as much money as possible in preparation for a sale. Leadership recognized the team as is, has failed to stick the landing multiple years in a row. Leadership is also actively looking for a new ownership group. One way to maximize value in a sale of a team is to let the new owner/GM dictate the future money-wise. In spectacular fashion, that’s the future that’s been set up for whomever wants to buy the MLB team most likely to be an icicle on Opening Day… shout out to Byron Buxton for sticking to his guns though; I’m confident ownership told him what the plan was and he still refused to waive his no trade clause. Dude must love the Twin Cities; I respect that.

Makakilo: Key to understanding what the Twins are:

They peak every 3 or 4 years, then do a deep rebuild. They won the AL Central in 2019 & 2020, and again in 2023. Perhaps they will peak again in 2027/2028.
They are preparing to sell the team, so giving the new owner a clean slate could be a good thing.

“They were able to shed a lot of payroll while also adding significant talent to the farm system, which sets the organization up for future success and its eventual sale.” – Jim Bowden

James: While I did not see the total teardown coming, I am not completely shocked either. MLB has been trying to help the Twins find new ownership for a while. Also, there is a very strong chance that there is little or no season in 2027, the year that would have represented more or less the last chance for that assembled roster. Given how little payroll room the team had to work with, it isn’t like they were going to be in a position to retool around the edges to extend that window. Once the grossly inflated prices for relievers became apparent, the Twins leaning into that and using those deals to supplement the lesser deals for the rest of the roster made a ton of sense. Moving on from Correa feels much more like Minnesota trying to give Correa a possible out from the rebuild. He made it clear he was either staying or they would need to make a deal with Houston. Given that Minnesota is eating quite a bit of salary, it feels an awful lot like Minnesota trying to do right by Correa while also attempting to be financially responsible. They now have a massive warchest for the upcoming winter and have about six to eight weeks to evaluate their best prospects to see where they need to invest their newfound payroll wealth.

1AZfan1: I was not aware of the potential franchise sale subplots until reading the responses above. I wasn’t even tracking that the Twins traded away 10(!) players until Saturday morning. I’m not necessarily sure it’s a symptom of the have-nots, but I will contrast what’s happening there with what is happening in Arizona. While the Twins have cleared the deck, possibly in preparation for an ownership change, the D-backs have agreed to several extensions which, by that same logic, would indicate Kendrick doesn’t see himself giving up ownership of the team anytime soon.

Wesley: The Twins firesale is 100% a result of the team being for sale and them trying to reduce debt. They now have the smallest payroll in MLB, and that’s a bad look in my opinion.

Preston: Yes, it’s a bad look, but we see this more often in sports that do have a salary cap. Basketball, for example. Manfred will use this as part of his push for the salary cap, but that’s not a great reason.

That said, the Marlins did much the same thing last year, and nobody batted an eye. This keeps happening, and will keep happening because owners are greedy.

So, at the beginning of the season, Jim asked us to predict total wins. Want to revise those?

DBacksEurope: Wow, many were way off! I see Spencer and I had the lowest predictions of them all so we were way more conservative than others but still a swing and miss. The offence was good until recently but the pitching has let us down. Until very recently I think an 87-win season was probably a reach but this team could have ended above .500. Let’s hope they go out and make the most of it and will set the stage for a nice bounce back in 2026.

Spencer: Big yikes. I definitely don’t expect 87 wins anymore. But no, I won’t revise because that roster is very different from the one we ever actually fielded. It took a Dodgers-level injury catastrophe to bring the team Hazen compiled to the edge of contention. Few would’ve been upset if he’d chosen to have a KC deadline and bought at the edges last week. That’s such an impressive feat. It’s just unfortunate that it derailed what could’ve been an epic season for us all. I’ll stay optimistic for now and say Arizona somehow does get 87 wins! But man I expect my 2026 number will be significantly deflated. Thank you Mr. Kaplan; I will never forget your impact on this team.

Makakilo: As is often the case, my prediction of 90.3 wins was optimistic, perhaps even wildly optimistic. My optimistic prediction is now 71 wins (it could be worse). Key points:

In the last 10 games they scored 1.4 runs per game and allowed 5.0 runs per game.
In the last 10 games their only win was by a score of 1 to zero.
The best use of the remaining two months is evaluating players with little to no experience in the Majors.

James: My original call was for 90 wins. That was long before the injury bug hit and before the team. If the team had been able to keep Burnes, Moreno, Miller, and one of Puk/Martinez healthy, I think they are probably buyers at the deadline and that 90 wins would still be possible. Now, I think the team probably finishes in the 78-80 win window. I would really like to see them still finish .500. But in order to do that, they need another arm in the rotation before next week.

1AZfan1: I was right at the top of the list, calling for 92 wins. Welp. My logic then was I felt the bullpen/starting pitching would improve enough to offset the downtick in offense I expected. Beyond that, I felt that some improved injury luck over 2024 and better luck in extra innings games would lead to a 3 win improvement over last year. Somehow, the injury luck worsened and our record in extra innings is 4-7 (it was 5-8 last year). My revised guess is we’ll probably play around a .400 clip the rest of the way which would work out to around 71 wins at the end of the year. I hope I don’t look back at that .400 winning percentage as too optimistic!

Wesley: The problem is that I try to be as positive and optimistic as possible, even if my gut instincts tel me otherwise.bI should have just been serious about the initial sarcastic pessimistic prediction. No they’re not going to have 152 losses, but it does feel like they’re just as close to 90 wins as they are to 90 losses.

Preston: I was off, but at least I was off for the right reason. It should have been the best pitching staff in franchise history. It wasn’t. They have to figure out the medical issues. If it’s not hamstrings, its

Ben: Wow, we were an optimistic bunch back in March. Not only was my optimism misplaced, but my talk about “Gallen and Burnes being the best one-two punch in franchise history” looks laughable in hindsight. I won’t revise my prediction since I have way more information now than I did then, but I will make a new one for 71 wins. After today’s game against the Athletics, they have just 10 games remaining against teams below .500 (seven of which are against the Rockies). They also have a brutal end to the season with consecutive series against the Phillies, Dodgers, and Padres with one off day. I’m hopeful they can gel together better than that, but they’ve given me little reason to do that so far.

ISH95: Well, I don’t think they’re making 100 wins this season. I mean, never say never, 47-2 just seems… unlikely. Even .500 is going to be hard, taking 29-20. I think they’re going to be better than most of us are giving them credit for, but probably not a winning team. I’ll say they finish with 77 wins.

Diamondbacks 6, Sacramento Athletics of Las Vegas, California 4

2025-08-03T18:56:00-04:00

Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images

Tough road trip, but a good win seals a series victory heading back home.

The Diamondbacks came into this game in a suddenly unfamiliar territory — with a chance to win a series. To do that, they would need another strong outing from the offense and a good start from Eduardo Rodriguez, which has been just as hard to come by as good offensive games for the Diamondbacks recently. In his last four starts he has given up 9, 4, 0, and 5 runs, the scoreless outing being a 6 ¹⁄₃ inning performance

His opposite number today was Jack Perkins, who was making his first MLB start, though he did have eight relief appearances this season. Known for a killer sweeper, the A’s are expecting him to be a big part of their rotation going forward. That said, given he had only relieved so far this season, it was destined to be a short outing from him.

He kept that sweeper mostly under wraps in the first inning. It was all fastballs with just a couple change ups and a single sweeper out of the zone to Corbin Carroll and Blaze Alexander. Didn’t really matter much, though, as they both struck out. The next sweeper he threw was to Geraldo Perdomo. It was in on the hands, but Perdomo got around on it and dinked it into middle depth right field and hustled it out for a double. Nothing came of it, though, as Lourdes Gurriell Jr. flew out to the second baseman Luis Urias to end the inning.

E-Rod had his work cut out for him right off the bat. As the broadcast mentioned a few times, the A’s have more runs scored in the first than any other team, and Rodriguez has a 6.00 ERA in the first himself. Not the best combination, but Schuemann struck out to lead off the inning, and Nick Kurtz dribbled a ball back to the mound for the first two outs. He wasn’t able to finish the 1-2-3 inning and walked Brent Rooker bringing major annoyance Shea Langoliers to the plate. Langoliers battled and turned an 0-2 count into a two out single putting runners on the corners for the rookie center fielder Colby Thomas. Rodriguez bent, but did not break, getting the strike out and ending the inning with no damage done.

Top of the second rolled around, and the Diamondbacks did what they’ve done so many times this season and jumped on a a pitcher for a crooked inning. They loaded the bases with no outs, thanks to a McCarthy walk, Tyler Locklear’s first single as a Diamondback, and a single from Thomas. There was some justifiable concern that this still wouldn’t lead to any scoring, the Dbacks scoffed at our collective lack of faith. Conner Kaiser walked, Herrera hit a sac fly, and Carroll hit a single to bring in three straight runs. That’s all they managed there, though with Blaze striking out and Domo lining out 3-0 Dbacks

As I mentioned, E-Rod has a 6 ERA in the first inning. It’s even worse at a 7.00 in the second, and he got dangerously close to showing why. Austin Wynns doubled to start the inning. Rodriguez got an easy out on a Hernaiz groundout, but a JJ Bleday single and a Gio Urshela walk loaded the bases with just one out. Things weren’t looking great, but a hard hit ball to Blaze Alexander lead to the very traditional 5-3 double play and the inning ended without incident.

In a nice turn of events, the Diamondbacks offense did not get complacent and kept pushing in the third. Two quick outs, but Tyler Locklear drew a walk and then stole (?!) second base to get into scoring position for Alek Thomas. The latter’s stellar series continued and he singled and brought Locklear home to score. 4-0 Diamondbacks

At this point, Eduardo Rodriguez absolutely cruised through innings three and four. He faced the heart of the lineup, which had caused so many issues for the Diamondbacks so far this series and got a strike out from Kurtz, a ground out from Rooker, and a line out from Langoliers. The fourth was much the same. Both Colby Thomas and Austin Wynns struck out, and Darell Hernaiz lined out to center for a quick, no mess inning.

Rodriguez wasn’t able to keep it going in the fifth, though. Bleday and Urshella singled to lead things off. Max Schuemann bunted them to second and third, bringing Nick Kurtz to the plate. He singled and brought both the runners home, cutting the Diamondbacks’ lead in half. With the rest of the heart of the order up next, one would be forgiven if they wondered if that was all the A’s would manage, but E-rod pulled it back together and got a couple of fly outs from Rookers and Langoliers to end the inning. 4-2 Arizona

Meanwhile the Diamondbacks offense was pretty quiet. They went down in order in the fourth and fifth. They tried to put together something in the sixth, but some bad luck, bad baserunning shut it down. Locklear got his second hit, and tried to get his second stolen base. He had that stolen base by about five feet, but kept sliding right off the base and the shortstop Hernaiz stuck with it and kept the glove on him to get the out. It was a shame, since Alek Thomas’ base hit the next batter would have brought him home, but instead Thomas was erased on as part of a double play and the inning came to an end.

Eduardo Rodriguez went back out for the bottom of the sixth, but he gave up a lead off walk and Torey didn’t want to push it farther. E-Rod was pulled in favor of John Curtiss, who got a double play and a fly out to end the inning.

In the seventh, Blaze extended the lead with a solo home run and Andrew Saalfrank gave up his first ERA since returning from suspension. 5-3 Diamondbacks

Eighth was quiet, but the Diamondbacks weren’t quite finished yet in the ninth. Herrera lead off with single, and Carroll followed behind with walk. Blaze made it happen again with a single of his own, bringing home Herrara, then Perdomo singled himself to load the bases. Gurriel and McCarthy couldn’t get on base, though, and left them loaded. 6-3 Dbacks

Kyle Nelson was the chosen one to save the game for Arizona. Gave up a one out home run to Bleday to tighten things up a bit, but Urshela flew out and Schuemann struck out, ending the game. 6-4 Arizona

WPA provided courtesy of Fangraphs.com

Thomas’ big game was reflected in his 14.8% WPA. On the pitching side, Curtiss had a similarly impactful game at 13.4%.

Comment of the Day goes to Snake_Bitten for this prophetic thought right before the 5-3 double play in the second

Tomorrow starts a series against the Padres, and the Diamondbacks first shot at playing spoiler in this new phase of the season. First pitch is 6:40 PM Arizona time. See you there!

Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #112: 8/3 @ Athletics

2025-08-03T15:30:00-04:00

Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Back on track?

Today's Lineups

DIAMONDBACKS	ATHLETICS
Corbin Carroll - RF	Max Schuemann - 3B
Blaze Alexander - 3B	Nick Kurtz - 1B
Geraldo Perdomo - SS	Brent Rooker - RF
Lourdes Gurriel - DH	Shea Langeliers - DH
Jake McCarthy - LF	Colby Thomas - CF
Tyler Locklear - 1B	Austin Wynns - C
Alek Thomas - CF	Darell Hernaiz - SS
Connor Kaiser - 2B	JJ Bleday - LF
Jose Herrera - C	Luis Urias - 2B

E. Rodriguez - LHP	Jack Perkins - RHP

It has been a while. Last night’s victory was only the second blow-out win for the D-backs since July 9, the other being the 10-1 shellacking of the Cardinals in the first series back after the break. Mind you, wins of any kind have been difficult for the Diamondbacks to come by. After the sweep against the Cardinals, they have gone 2-9, with the offense in particular being missing, presumed dead. The struggles with runners in scoring position have been well documented, and they didn’t go away last night. Arizona were 1-for-9 with RISP, But three home-runs instead will solve a lot of problems: they’re 13-3 when hitting 3+ HR. Though they are 0-1 when hitting 5+, that being the 14-11 loss against the Dodgers.

Oh, and remember the series we dropped to the Pirates, scoring a total of one run in the process? That came in the middle of a spell where Pittsburgh went 8-1, sweeping both the Tigers and Giants, teams ahead of the D-backs in the standing. Merely losing doesn’t seem too bad, does it... except they are now playing the Rockies at Coors, staring down the barrel of a sweep, having conceded twenty-five runs over the first two games so far. Because Coors Field. And also, because baseball. Things change, and we’d do well to remember that for the remaining fifty or so games. We’ll have good and bad days. You would do well to remember, 2025 is irrelevant. We’re looking to 2026 and beyond now.

Today’s starter, Eduardo Rodriguez, will be an important part of that mix. After a June where he looked to be getting back on track, with a 1.98 ERA over five starts, July was an unfortunate back-slide. He was good first game after the break, blanking the Astros for six innings, taking a tough no-decision. But that’t Rodriguez’s only quality start of the month, going 0-3 with an ugly 7.40 ERA, and a FIP which was not much better, at 6.92. He was plagued by the long ball, giving up seven home-runs in little more than twenty innings. As a result, his ERA has remained above five, where it has been since April 29. He’s below replacement level by bWAR (-0.5), so will need to be fixed over the balance of the season.