Pavin Smith was the walk-off hero for the Diamondbacks Monday night, but that moment would not be possible without the efforts of Ryne Nelson. Facing the Giants with an exhausted bullpen, with multiple guys down, the young right-hander pitched into the eighth inning.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“Ryno came out and was pounding the zone, he was mixing his pitches really well, went 7 2/3,” said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo on the T.V. broadcast. “We were extremely thin in the bullpen, we had several pitchers that were unusable. Without Ryne Nelson today, we don’t win that game, and we go in our reserve in our bullpen and we’re stuck tomorrow. He set it up in a lot of different ways and that’s what made it more spectacular tonight.”
Not only was Nelson was able to provide length, but he also did a great job of limiting their ability to score. He did a good job at preventing the Giants from building innings, retiring the leadoff batter in five of the eight innings he started. Two of the three runners that reached were immediately erased on ground ball double plays. While not a dominant performance, it was an efficient performance and one the Diamondbacks needed.
The defense behind Nelson was also on point, helping him stay out of trouble. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had a great game chasing down balls in left field, Jake McCarthy made a diving catch with a runner in scoring position, Blaze Alexander made a great diving stop at shortstop on a ball hit to the other side of second base.
“It was actually unbelievable,” Nelson said to PHNX’s Jesse Friedman. “I’ve never been a part of anything like that. I caught myself after almost every inning walking down and giving a high-five for making a really incredible play.”
Ryne Nelson on the defense behind him tonight:
"It was actually unbelievable. I've never been a part of anything like that … I caught myself after almost every inning walking down and giving somebody a high five for making a really incredible play.” pic.twitter.com/HW2pS1oo5m
— PHNX Diamondbacks (@PHNX_Dbacks) June 4, 2024
Because of Nelson’s heroics, the Diamondbacks only had to use Ryan Thompson to get through the rest of the game. Thompson gave up two hits in the ninth but picked up the final four outs of the game. They’ll now have the use of most of the bullpen available to try to cover a Blake Walston start on Tuesday.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks and Arizona Cardinals for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
