The Diamondbacks came out completely flat against the Angels, turning in a total clunker on all sides of the ball in a 8-3 loss. Slade Cecconi was roughed up for seven runs in three-plus innings and the lineup was held in check by José Soriano for eight innings.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“I think we can put that in the we can all been better bucket and move on,” said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo on the Diamondbacks television broadcast. “Their starting pitcher was pretty good and once in a while, you have to tip your cap to that performance. We got to understand what happened, move off it as soon as possible, and get ready to play a good game tomorrow.”
Cecconi’s start dug too deep a hole for the Diamondbacks to climb out of. He allowed the Angels to score in all four innings he started, with single runs in each of the first three innings then got blasted in the fourth inning. He failed to retire the leadoff hitter, as Los Angeles punished all his mistake pitches. He left a slider up to Jo Adell, who crushed it for a three-run home run to blow the game open. After failing to retire another hitter, he was pulled from the game.
With the Diamondbacks missing their top three starters, it was a very discouraging sign for Cecconi to turn in a clunker. Arizona’s trying to survive with a patchwork rotation that consists of four starters with an ERA north of 5.00. Lovullo is looking for his young starters to step up in this opportunity and provide better outings than what they’ve gotten of late. There haven’t been any discussions about whether Cecconi will get another next start.
Soriano faced the minimum through six innings, aided by four double play balls. The Diamondbacks came in hitting .230 with a .669 OPS against ground ball dominant pitchers. Soriano, who had a ground ball rate just below 60% entering play, induced 12 ground outs on the night. His lone mistake through eight innings was a solo home run by Christian Walker, whose blast landed on the concourse behind the home run porch in left center field. Ketel Marte added a two-run home run off reliever Matt Moore in the ninth for the final score.
Scott McGough and Thyago Vieira combined for just one run in five innings to save the bullpen. Lovullo acknowledged their effort after the game.
“We had two relievers step up and throw us over 40 pitches each. That was really impressive, that gave us some wiggle room to play through tomorrow.”
Despite the tough loss, the Diamondbacks still have a chance to win the game by taking the rubber match. Right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (2-5, 4.60 ERA) will square off against right-hander Griffin Canning (2-6, 4.65 ERA). First pitch at Chase Field will be at 6:40 P.M. MST.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
