Record 27-27. Pace: 81-81. Change on 2024: +2.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had food poisoning, but few things compare to the blessed sensation when it’s over, and you enjoy your first meal that doesn’t come back up or shoot right through. The sense that normal (biological) service has finally been resumed, is a marvelous relief. Tonight’s game was just like that, after the amoebic dysentery of the five-game losing streak. Turns out, all we needed to do was play the team with the second-worst record in the National League. Who knew? Ryne Nelson threw 6.2 shutout innings, and there were homers by Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor, as the D-backs climbed back up to Mt. .500.

To go a different direction with the culinary metaphor: this was a refreshing lemon sorbet after the brussel sprout casserole of last week [and if you happen to like brussel sprouts, I will not be taking questions at this time, thank you very much]. This was the kind of game we needed to see. Solid starting pitching that didn’t suddenly fall apart. Good relief work. [Not you, Scott McGough, sit down] And a hit with a runner in scoring position! Yeah, just the one, Arizona going 1-for-8 there, but that was still one more than Pittsburgh managed. It was a decent performance, and will hopefully help right the ship for the rest of the homestand, as the D-backs try to get back above .500.

It began with Ryne Nelson, who made a strong case for a rotation spot with his best start of the season. He allowed four hits and no walks, going a full five outs further than his previous season high, and striking out four. I was watching the Pirates feed, and they were quite surprised when he was lifted with two outs in the seventh and the bases empty. But Nelson had already thrown 84 pitches, well past his previous high of 71. It does appear likely he will be moving to the bullpen when Eduardo Rodriguez returns. Jack asked Torey Lovullo before the game about other options, and was told, “That conversation hasn’t even come up at all… E-Rod’s a starting pitcher and we’re going to keep him that way.”

To be fair, while Nelson’s performance this evening was excellent, the quality of the opposition was… not good. The Pirates are dead last in the majors this year for runs scored, now averaging a mere 2.98 runs per game. The only a lower tally in the last twenty years by a National League side to this point (55 games), was the 2011 Marlins who had scored 152 runs compared to the Pirates’ 164. Tonight was the ninth time already that Pittsburgh have been shut out, and the sixteenth occasion they have been held to one or zero runs. It’s the kind of line-up you expect a competent starting pitcher to handle. Nelson did his job. I suspect E-Rod might not have done much worse.

Though it started with the kind of eye-rolling nonsense which plagued Arizona during the five-game losing streak. Oneil Cruz – he of the hardest hit-ball in the Statcast era yesterday – hit the ball 3 ft with a launch angle of -44 degrees. It became a double, somehow just squirting fair down the left-field line. However, Nelson buckled down, retiring the next three Pirates, It would be the only extra-base hit he would allow, the other three hits being singles. Admittedly, he did get some help, home plate umpire John Tumpane delivering one of the worst called strikes I’ve seen this season (pitch 4 here). But after the first, no Pirate reached scoring position against Nelson.

That changed immediately after he left, Kendall Graveman allowing a two-run double before getting the third out. Scott McGough took over for the eighth, and loaded the bases with no outs on a Suarez error and two walks [plus an equipment malfunction, causing a pitch to go through Gabriel Moreno’s glove to the backstop] Torey, no doubt rolling his eyes fervently, wasted no time and sent Justin Martinez out instead. He went strikeout, popout, forceout, It was our pitching staff’s first true NOBLE TIGER (”No Outs, Bases Loaded, Ending with Team Incapable of Getting an Easy Run”) since Martinez loaded the bases himself in the 11th against Tampa last August 18th, before escaping.

Objectively, Win Probability never dropped below 89.5% – and Diamondhacks would probably remind me, that’s likely low, given the quality of the Pirates offense. But given the last five games, even I will admit to… pausing the early stages of the recap until Martinez did his thing. I’m not going to say JMart is back – again, Pittsburgh. But it was certainly an improvement on his first appearance off the IL. Ryan Thompson allowed a lead-off single in the ninth, erased it with a double-play and got the final out. The losing streak was over, and Arizona got their record back to .500.

Offense? Yeah, there was some. All off the Pirates’ starter Andrew Heaney, who was tagged for eight hits and three walks over five innings. Tim Tawa got things going with a sacrifice fly in the second, followed by an RBI single from Ketel Marte. Suarez added his 15th home-run in the third, and Naylor got his sixth in the fifth inning. We didn’t do much off one of the Pirates’ top prospects, Braxton Ashcraft, who made his major-league debut in relief and worked three scoreless. Enjoyed seeing his family at Chase Field on the Pirates’ broadcast. Did NOT enjoy hearing that Ashcraft’s favorite pitcher growing up was Steven Strasburg. I now feel very old.

Click here for details, at Fangraphs.com

Pirates of the Caribbean: Ryne Nelson, +28.2%

The Sea Hawk: Moreno, +11.4% Marte, +10.3%; Martinez, +10.0%

Cutthroat Island: Corbin Carroll, -7.7%

A very workmanlike performance all round (not you, Scott McGough – I told you, sit down), and definitely needed. The team will want to do the same tomorrow, and put the series away before they face Paul Skenes on Wednesday. Just past 200 comments in the GDT, not bad for a holiday Monday. Comment of the thread to kilnborn:

Back at it tomorrow night, just with a more usual start time of 6:40 pm. Corbin Burnes gets the start for the D-backs with getting above .500 on the agenda.