Evening up the series 1-1, the Arizona Diamondbacks picked up a much-needed win over the Dodgers, bouncing back from a 9th-inning collapse the night before.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!And the D-backs did so in historic fashion.
With Cristian Mena making his major league debut on the mound, the Dodgers quickly introduced the 21-year-old to the big leagues by scoring four runs before Mena recorded an out. Shohei Ohtani started the scoring with a base hit, Will Smith followed with a walk, and Freddie Freeman then hit a three-run home run, giving the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.
In the next at-bat, Teoscar Hernandez hit a solo home run, making it two homers and four runs scored before an out was recorded. In fact, it was not until Mena threw his 20th pitch that he finally secured his first major league out.
But, from that point on, it was all Diamondbacks, as Mena settled down and the D-backs went on to score 11 unanswered runs to run away with a 12-4 win.
According to OPTAStats, the Diamondbacks became the first team in MLB history to allow two home runs before an out was recorded, only to shut out their opponent and win by a margin of greater than eight runs.
In MLB history, there has been one team to allow multiple homers before even getting an out but then shut out their opponent the rest of the way and win by 8+ runs.
That one team was the @Dbacks tonight. pic.twitter.com/cl7oBm4ilw
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) July 4, 2024
The D-backs bullpen played a crucial role in this historic feat. After Mena’s exit at the end of the third inning, Bryce Jarvis, Kevin Ginkel, Joe Mantiply, and Thyago Vieira combined for seven shutout innings against one of the best offenses in baseball.
Only two hits were allowed in these seven innings of bullpen dominance.
The Diamondbacks will look to pick up a series win over their NL West rivals as Zac Gallen takes the mound with the first pitch at 6:10 PM on Thursday.
