Record: 51-55. Pace: 79-83. Change on 2024: -4.
Dang. You know, I get it. We’re having us one hell of a fire sale, looks like. Josh Naylor was remanded to Seattle last week, and we saw Randal Grichuk traded to the Royals mid-game last night. Everyone is feeling like crap, and that translates into playing like crap. But still, one Dbacks run in 29 innings is a world of ouch.
There isn’t even much to say about this game, or this series, other than the fact that the trade deadline has gotten into our minds and marrow and we’re playing like a team seriously afflicted. In this game in particular, it so often felt like we were so close, yet so far, and then we’d strand guys on second and third. Meanwhile, Paul Skenes was dealing, as Paul Skenes does, and the Pirates were scoring runs with aplomb off of Zac Gallen, who pretty much turned in his brand of suckiness except for that five-pitch first.
Aside from Gallen’s brief, shining moment, the first inning was pretty uneventful for both teams. Sadly, when Oneil Cruz and Tommy Pham reached in the second, on a walk and a single that brought Cruz home, respectively, my hopes, and I’ll take the liberty of saying our collective hopes, to an extent, were in the toilet. We have rarely been the Answerbacks of 2023 in 2025, and with everyone in a depressed fugue state, we cannot expect this to be the time to rally. Or, we could, but as Arlo Guthrie wrote, it isn’t very likely and we don’t expect it. 3-0 PIRATES
The top of the third saw a series of frustrating half-innings for the Sneks, stranding guys on third after an opening double (yay, Tristin English! Welcome to the club!). But the Pirates half saw them singing and swinging and getting merry like Christmas, driving in two more runs. And that was pretty much the trajectory of the ballgame. Dbacks tried and failed; Pirates did the business, lather, rinse, repeat.
Actually, I lie. Nobody did much business until the bottom of the sixth, when Bryan Reynolds got hit by a pitch and Oneil Cruz doubled, bringing Reynolds home (4-0 PIRATES). The Diamondbacks, predictably, brought up the rear like Beedle-Bomb in that old Spike Jones routine, trying, and failing, even when Paul Skenes was pulled at the top of the seventh. There was a glimmer of hope, or at least not stupid, when new acquisition Brandyn Garcia replaced Gallen at the bottom of the seventh, bringing home a very nice one- two-three debut. Carmen Mlodzinski replaced Caleb Ferguson in the eighth, but even with a wild pitch that drove Ketel Marte to second, the Dbacks couldn’t make anything happen.
We on the ‘Pit have said many times that Steve Berthiaume jinxes things, and sure as sugar, he went and did just that at the bottom of the eighth, with a comment that went something along the lines of, “Gotta keep it to four runs. 4-0 is manageable, but 6-0, forget it.” And didn’t Tommy Pham go ahead and hit a ground rule double, and Oneil Cruz a single that brought home Pham and Nick Gonzales. (6-0 PIRATES). As if we had a snowball’s chance in hell, we blew it in the ninth, with James McCann giving Carmen Mlodzinski a bit of a run for his money, but ultimately striking out. FINAL 6-0 PIRATES
There were 134 comments at close of business, with a few going Sedona Red, including one about banh mi…yum. However, CotG goes to our Fearless Leader, who had this wisdom to share about the Sneks:
[Click to enlarge, at Fangraphs.com]
Raising Arizona: Jake McCarthy, +13.6%
No Country For Old Men: James McCann, -14.5%
The Man Who Wasn’t There: Gallen, -13.7%; Perdomo, -10.5%; Thomas, -10.1%
Join us (we will understand if you just can’t even right now) tomorrow in Detroit at 3:40 pm AZ time, when Eduardo Rodriguez will be going up against the fearsome ace, TBD. Also, props and heartfelt thanks to everyone in the community who asked about my dad and sent him well-wishes. I assume he’s pleased that the Pirates won, but they’ve been down so long it looks like up to him, which we all might do well to remember.
As always, thanks for watching/reading, and, as always, go Dbacks!