Arizona Diamondbacks Destroyed by New York Mets. Can Corbin Burnes Save Dbacks in Game 2

Arizona Diamondbacks Destroyed by New York Mets. Can Corbin Burnes Save Dbacks in Game 2

What are we discussing on today’s Locked on Diamondbacks podcast? How the Dbacks look like the Washington Generals against the New York Mets? And can the highest paid player on the Dbacks, Corbin Burns, set us back on the right track in game number two? You are Locked on Diamondbacks, your daily Arizona Diamondbacks podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every [Music] friends. Now, let’s get into that locked on Diamondbacks podcast and talk about Dbacks versus Generals. Mo Crayon said, “Describe today’s game in five words or less, Millie.” Uh, the best way I could describe it in five words or less, Harlem Globe Trotters verse Washington Generals. That was the vibe of the game. The Mets and the Dbacks. They were playing like they were operating on two different levels. It was like watching the New York Mets take on like the Savannah Bananas. Maybe that’s too harsh, too critical of the Arizona Diamondbacks, but they have not been playing good baseball recently. They have lost five of their last six games. And the concerns for me are starting to grow. This is a Dbacks team that has been dominated by the New York Mets the last few years. I believe in their last 22 games. I think this is just in City Field. I should maybe double check this, but I think the Dbacks are now 4 and 18 in their last 22 games at City Field. So, they go into New York, they get destroyed. Maybe that’s overall against the Mets, but it’s never a good time going to New York and playing the team in Orange. For some reason, we do okay against a team in blue and the in the pinstripes, but against the Mets, they seem to have our number. And in today’s game, game one, they destroyed us 8 to3 in like all facets from offense to pitching to defense. The Mets just clearly outclassed the Dbacks in game number one of this series. And it’s hard to tell that entering the year, the Dbacks and Mets were considered on the same level. I mean, you go back to last year, these two teams were pretty much neck andneck. When you look at their record post all-star break, pretty much the same team offensively, record-wise in terms of the win loss column. They were both, you know, going to that final day of the regular season, fighting for a playoff spot. So, there’s a lot of similarities and parallels between these two teams over the last couple years. And of course, we also talk about Lindor versus Ketto Marte in the MVP race last year for a runner up. And so far in 2025, the Mets look like they’re taking that second half and they’re using it to propel themselves to a big season in 2025. Meanwhile, the Dbacks, they added Jock Peterson, Josh Naylor this off seasonason. They came in with a rotation healthy, a lineup that scored the most runs in the National League last year, and they have not taken that leap that we want to see so far in 2025, and it’s super disappointing to see. In tonight’s game, we saw Rod. I’ve been very impressed with him so far in 2025. He’s been a strikeout machine. I think he’s looked way improved from last year where he was a massive struggle for the Arizona Diamondbacks where it’s like if we didn’t have Jordan Montgomery this whole offseason, we would have talked about how-rod was a major disaster for the Dbacks. But so far in 2025, I thought entering today’s game against the Mets, he’s been pretty good. But this start today was maybe what, like the second worst start by Dback starter all year. I would say the other start in New York, Mel Kelly versus the Yankees, where he gave up nine earned runs. I would say that one was a little bit worse, but this wasn’t much better by Rod. He gave up eight earn runs in this one. He gave up three home runs, and he wasn’t even really making bad pitches. He did struggle to locate a couple times. I think the problem is he doesn’t throw hard. He’s like 92, 93. And when those balls stay in the middle of the strike zone because he’s not afraid to attack opposing hitters, he was challenging the Mets hitters. The issue was the Mets hitters did not lose a challenge against Rod. And when he did miss with his location, the Mets were sending it to the outfield bleachers, which was a problem for the Arizona Diamondbacks. I mean that one Pete Alonzo. Should we go on Stackcast real quick? Because I never go on Stackcast to look at other teams home runs, but we might need to do it real quick for by Pete Alonzo because that one he had off-road where Lords Guriel I I don’t think Lords Griel turns his head on the play because it was so clearly like out of the ballpark. Um I don’t think any of the outfielders even reacted to that ball. Let’s see if I could find it. Peter Lonzo home run 107.8 off the bat. 416 ft 30 for30 in all ballpark. So yeah, that was a monster slam by Peter Lonzo in that situation. Rod, I thought he was attacking the zone like he normally does, but the Mets hitters, they capitalized on every mistake. And even when Rod was making good pitches, the Mets were just doing a better job of hitting. There would be times would be up and in on the hands of a Mets hitter and they were still able to get the barrel to the ball. And it was just disappointing to see because I thought Rod wasn’t terrible tonight, but it’s also hard to say that when you give up three home runs and eight earned runs. Uh, the Dbacks overall, I mean, their offense did nothing. They were one for 10 with runners in scoring position. Now, I do want to give the Mets defense some credit because that was the other frustrating thing about this game. The offense couldn’t capitalize on their situations and then the Mets defense just decided to become a vacuum. Pete Lonzo turned into Christian Walker at first base. Diving, what do we see like three diving stops over there at first base that saved a couple hits? Francisco Lindor had that one crazy was it him who had like that diving stop and he flips it over to the the shorts stop who throws it to first. I think that was a Lindor and whoever was over there on the left side I can’t remember exactly. Then of course Tyrone Taylor that ball in the gap by Lords Griel where he just Superman dives for it like just insane defense by the Mets in this game. The offense by the defense the offense by the Dbacks does nothing. the pitching by the Dbacks, at least their starter in-rod not very good because the one positive from this game was probably Ryan Nelson who came out the pen with four innings looked fantastic. And so if you want to put a positive on today’s game, it’s Ryan Nelson. But the other question I have leaving today’s game is why would Josh Naylor sitting in today’s game? I know it was his first day off of the year. There was a lefty on the mound. So you could say, “Oh, he’s been playing all the time. There’s a lefty on the mound. Let’s give Josh Naylor a rest. I would be okay with that if the Dbacks weren’t coming off an off day. We were already having an off day yesterday. So, why does Josh Naylor need back-to-back off days when we’re entering a series against one of the hottest teams in Major League Baseball? And the offense for the Dbacks has been struggling. Naylor has arguably been like the second best player all season for the Dbacks. So, why are we just sitting him? That’s one of those instances where if he’s not hurt, we’re just saving guys for later in the year, just trying to ease his workload. Well, guess what? We need to put more of a workload on Josh Naylor because he’s been fantastic this season and the Dbacks need these games. We saw last year how early season struggles can affect you the rest of the year and really push your season back. And it seems like we haven’t learned anything from 2024. Dbacks have lost five of their last six games. My concern level is growing. This was an uninspiring game by the Dbacks in game number one against the New York Mets. But hey, in game number two, the Dbacks have their highest paid player on the mound in Corbin Burns. And we’ll break down and preview that game in segment number three. But next, I want to discuss why the Dbacks bullpen needs defined roles in segment number two. more. Back here on the Locked on Diamondbacks podcast, looking at some comments. Cota kid said, “We got beat up tonight.” Yes, we did. And uh Mo Crayon said that defensive inning was all over social media immediately. I mean the Mets, got to give them credit, they made some incredible defensive plays in game number one against the Arizona Diamondbacks. But now let’s discuss why the Dbacks need defined roles in their bullpen because recently the Dbacks reinstated Kevin Ginkle. He’s back with the team and with him now back in the fold. AJ Puck out, Justin Martinez dealing with velocity concerns. There just a lot of things up in the air right now with the Dbacks bullpen. And that’s why I want to discuss why the Dbacks more than ever need defined roles in their pen. Because a guy like Kevin Ginkle, it’s so important that he’s coming back to the Dbacks. He’s been so important to Arizona the last couple years. Ever since he’s like rediscovered himself in 2022, he’s been a vital part of the Dbacks bullpen the last couple years. You look at his numbers in high lever situations the last few years. He’s been so important to Arizona in 2023, the year that the Dbacks got to the World Series. Of course, that was probably the most important year we ever seen from Kevin Ginko as he was the setup go-to guy in the eighth inning. And then in the postseason, did not allow an earn run at all. Was nails throughout the entire postseason. A 669 OPS allowed in high leverage moments in the regular season. Like it was a very good year for GKL in 2023 and kind of his breakout year. It started in 2022, but in 23 he really had himself a breakout year. 24 AER RA 65 innings pitch a sub one whip good strikeout numbers and then followed it up with a very similar season in 2024 and so this is a guy three years now huge for the Dbacks back into the bullpen high leverage moments critical clutch situations in a game is a guy that the Dbacks have really relied on over the last couple years but one area where Kevin Ginkle has not really been that effective is whenever the Dbacks try to make Kevin Gle the closer. For whatever reason, Kevin Gle is great as the seventh inning guy, the eighth inning guy, but historically when he tried to make Kevin Gle the closer, it has not worked out for the Arizona Diamondbacks. When you look at his numbers in save situations in his career, a 435 rate in save situations and a 311 rate in non-safe situations. It’s weird, but some guys are built for the back end of the bullpen and some guys are not. Kevin Ginkle, Ryan Thompson, I believe those are two guys who are not built for the back end of the bullpen. Those guys are inserted in the seventh inning, the eighth inning. Those guys are really fantastic, but for some reason whenever we try this closer by committee approach, those guys just typically don’t work out. I’ve seen Kevin Ginkle as a closer enough. Uh, at one point I thought Kevin Ginkle was going to be the closer of the future for the Dbacks. I thought that back in 2019 when he was first coming on the scene and looking electric and had that fast ball slider combination working, but since then we’ve realized he’s has he’s had his up and downs and we’ve realized that Genko probably isn’t cut out to be the closer. We’ve tried to put him in that situation. We’ve given him those opportunities. He’s proven to us he’s probably not built for the closer role, but a guy that’s your eighth inning setup man or as your seventh inning high leverages guy. Yeah, that works out for you in a big way. Same with Ryan Thompson. His numbers in his career in the ninth inning. He has like a career 8.1 RA, but he’s elite outside of the ninth inning. So, this brings me back to my point that the Dbacks need defined roles. This is not a segment about why the Dbacks need to make Justin Martinez their everyday closer, even though that’s what I believe and what I’ve been saying on this podcast, but I’m actually saying this right now because Justin Martinez isn’t the everyday closer and he’s dealing with serious arm fatigue. And until he’s fully healthy, fully back to being 100% Justin Martinez, I want the Dbacks to have a structured approach. I don’t want Tory Lavell going with the committee and going with his gut and going with the feel every day of, “Oh, who should be the Dback’s closer today? Let me pick a name out of a hat.” No. If Justin Martinez is not the closer because of his health, the Dbacks need a structured approach. That’s why we need defined bullpen roles. Until Jar is fully healthy, the pseudo closer for the Dbacks should be Shelby Miller. He has been the guy that’s been the best reliever probably for Arizona outside of Justin Martinez. Again, hasn’t allowed an earn run this year. I would make Shelby the ninth inning guy. I would make Kevin Ginkle the eighth inning guy and then the combination of Jaylen Beaks and Ryan Thompson as your seventh inning guys until Justin Martinez is fully healthy. And then once Jar is back, of course, he’s the closer. Now, I’m not putting Jar as the closer. I’m not even using Jar as a reliever until he’s fully healthy. If you’re talking about his workload, if you’re talking about keeping Jar, you know, ready for the rest of the regular season and for the postseason, well, I don’t want to throw him out there when he’s clearly not right. Jar in his last two outings, the velocity took a big dip. And if we go to Jar in a big situation in the near future and his velocity hasn’t changed, I think that’s a big big concern and a big critical moment against the Arizona Diamondbacks. If you are just running over the future of Justin Martinez and saying we don’t care about the fact that we’re putting him out there when he doesn’t look 100%. That would concern me as a fan. I don’t think the Dbacks are going to do that. But if we see Jmart out there in the next couple days and his fast ball is only topping out at 97 miles per hour, then everything we’ve heard about the Dbacks trying to manage their guys and caring about their health for the rest of the regular season, you could throw that away. But until I see Jmart come back out, we’re going to hold our reservations because he clearly did not look right in his most recent outing. And so until Jart is back to full health, let’s have a structured appro approach. Let’s have defined bullpen roles. Shelby, you’re the closer. Genko, you’re the eighth inning. Thompson big seventh inning. And then once Jar comes back fully healthy, he’s the closer. And then everyone else moves down a spot. You do GKL in the uh you do GKL in the seventh, you do Shelby Miller in the eighth, and then almost like Beaks and Thomas become your specialists. Not really, but they get utilized more in like the best kind of situations for their stren for their strength. So for the Arizona Diamondbacks, I I don’t want Kevin Ginkle’s return to cause chaos in the bullpen. I don’t want there to all of a sudden everyone’s like, “Oh, what’s my job? What’s my role? Do I go to the game today? Am I am I the closer? Am I the seventh inning guy?” Like, no. Ryan Thompson talked about it in this past spring training, how important define rules are for a bullpen, how important it was in 2023 when he came into the game every day. and he knew he was the seventh inning guy. Genko eighth inning, Seaw Wald ninth inning. These relievers like to have that structure. As a fan, I like to have that structure. I like to know Justin Martinez is going to be our closer when he’s healthy. And so Tory Lavell, I’m hoping he comes up with a better plan with GKL here with Jart struggling with his health and his velocity. Let’s have a structured approach and have defined roles for every reliever in the Arizona Diamondbacks bullpen. Now, we’ll discuss if the Dbacks highest paid player in Corbin Burns can get them back in track in game number two in segment number two. look All right, back here on the Locked on Diamondbacks podcast and now let’s discuss Corbin Burns and if he can deliver the Dbacks a win and get us back on track because of course I want a start where I feel like Corbin Burns finally makes me feel like he’s worth the money. It’s something we’ve talked about a lot on this podcast, how it’s very arbitrary. It’s very subjective, but I just haven’t been wowed or really impressed. And I’m still waiting for that first start. That’s really what I’m waiting for right now from Corbin Burns. I want that first start where I sit back in my chair, I say, “Wow, I see why the Dbacks paid this man 35 million a year. I see why he’s the highest paid player in franchise history. I see why he’s been considered a Sai Young favorite and one of the best pitchers in the sport over the last few years because so far in 2025, I have not seen it. Now, has Corbin Burns been bad? No, he’s been fine, right? Like you look at the stats, you look at the game logs for Corbin Burns this year, he’s been fine. One mediocre start where we give up four earned runs and then every other start outside of that, three earned runs or less. No really blowup starts. Like he’s been fine. He’s been great at keeping the Dbacks in games, right? Like all the games with Corbin Burns pitches close when he leaves the game. Like, right? Can you not be happy? What more can you want if you’re an Arizona Diamondbacks fan? Well, I want a lot more because as good as Corbin Burns has been at keeping the games close, right? I’m not paying Corbin Burns franchise money just to have fine starts, eh starts. I’m paying Corbin Burns franchise money to have Sai Young starts. I’m tired of the starts from Corbin Burns where I’m just like, “Huh, at least he battled and kept it close for five innings.” Like that’s a phrase you say when your number five starter goes out there and has a good start and you’re happy with him, right? Like that’s what you say when Zack Davies goes out there and has a fine start because right now Corbin Burns is kind of giving me Zack Davies vibes. Maybe that’s insane to say, but go back and look at Zack Davies numbers. His first year with the Dbacks in 2022. Zack Davies wasn’t that bad with Arizona in 134 innings pitch. He had a 409 RA. He was actually fine for the Dbacks. It was a lot of games. It was like five innings pitched, three earned runs, and it was like, “Oh, Davies kept the game close.” Davies Dback’s still in it. Okay. Corbin Burns right now kind of doing the same thing in 26 innings pitch a 405. Like you take away the names from the back of the jerseys and the stats tell you Davies, Corbin Burns, not that much different of a player from what we’ve seen so far in 2025. And that’s not why we’re paying Corbin Burns. It is a good quality to have keeping games close, but not when you’re making 35 million a year. Corbin Burns, we need him to step up in a big way going against the redhot New York Mets, a team who is going to be in the Dbacks way all season long for the postseason, for a wildcard spot. Like, we need this series. We need to stack dubs against the New York Mets because we saw last year how you can lose out to a tiebreaker based off games in April. And so despite it being super early in the season, it’s not even May, this is a very important series for the rest of the year. And the Dbacks are going to need their highest paid player and Corbin Burns to step up and deliver a big win. We saw last year how struggling early, especially against a team also vying for the playoffs, can cause seasonlong ramifications. Corbin Burns in his most recent start was cooking against Tampa Bay through those first three innings. I think it was nine up, nine down. He was cooking early. Finished with eight strikeouts. The a season high eight strikeouts. The best to wing and miss stuff we’ve seen from Corbin Burns all season. But at the same time, he started to walk guys in that fourth inning, started to give up loud contact, and then he unraveled in the fifth. That’s an issue for Burns. We’ve seen games where he started slow, finished strong. We’ve seen starts where he started hot, and then fizzled out. We need a complete game from Corbin Burns. I don’t know if we’re going to get it in game two against the Mets, but I’m still waiting for a seven in elite performance from Corbin Burns. Seven innings, one earned run, nine strikeouts. Like, we have not yet seen a performance like that from Burns. He started great last week against the Tampa Bay Rays. Nine up, nine down. Let’s see that continue. He was putting guys away with the strikeouts. That cutter looked effective. He was confident. Then he started walking guys. Then he started giving up allow contact. I don’t want to see that against the New York Mets because that would lead to an outpour of runs for that team. This season is not a disaster like Madbum or Monty their first year with the Dbacks, but the vibes still aren’t great, but it’s still early in the year and if Corbin Burns walks away game number two with a dominant performance, he can have a sub4 RA after game number two. So, still early in the year and still a lot of time for Corbin Burns to have a pretty good stat line by the end of 2025. Now, that’s it for this edition of the Locked on Diamondbacks podcast. Come back tomorrow for more Diamondbacks news coverage and insight. And as always, stay safe, stay healthy. Do

Game 1 between Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets felt like Globetrotters vs Generals. Millard Thomas discusses what went wrong, why the bullpen needs defined roles, and if Corbin Burnes can put the Dbacks back on track.

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-diamondbacks/

Locked On MLB League-Wide: Every Team, Prospects & More
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/mlb/

#ArizonaDiamondbacks #diamondbacks #MLB