The Diamondbacks picked up right where they left off before the All-Star break, picking up a 5-2 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Ryne Nelson set a career-high nine strikeouts in 5 2/3 dominant innings and the offense scored enough runs on Justin Steele to hold off a pair of late rallies by the Cubs.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“It feels really good,” Nelson told Dbacks TV reporter Jody Jackson. “Sometimes you come back from the break and there might be a little bit of a lull. This team, we came back and we were ready to play. We brought our A-game today.”
Nelson established his plus-plus heater against the Cubs, sitting 92-98 MPH with rising action. He landed 11 called strikes and generated 11 whiffs on his 65 heaters. He mixed in just enough sliders and changeups to keep opposing hitters honest. One such example came when he froze Dansby Swanson on a slider in the second inning.
“Fastball location felt really good today,” said Nelson. “Keeping them off balance with offspeed too, sprinkle it in there. Gabi [Moreno] was amazing today. He receives really well and gives me a lot of confidence when he’s body languaging out to me. He fills me up with confidence all the time.”
Nelson continues to impress on the mound, as he’s staking a claim on a rotation spot even as the rest of the rotation gets healthy. The right-hander held Chicago to one run on three hits and two hits. Over his last 11 appearances, he’s pitched to a 3.71 ERA with 45 strikeouts and 15 walks over 63 innings. He became the first Arizona pitcher to get to seven wins this season.
The key to his turnaround has been focusing on executing just one pitch at a time.
“I’ve really taken a real emphasis on just staying one pitch at a time,” said Nelson. “Not getting too ahead or worrying about previous pitches, or maybe I gave up hit or something like that. I’ve been really trying to stay in the moment and be where my feet are. Just working with Gabi one pitch at a time and I feel that’s put me in a really good head space to compete and not get either too low or too high.”
The Diamondbacks staked out Nelson to an early lead. They finally broke through against Steele in the third, with four of the first five hitters recording singles against the left-hander. Moreno put Arizona on the board with their third ground ball single up the middle and Christian Walker drove in two more on a single to the left-center gap. They chased Steele in the fifth, as the first four hitters of the inning reached and Corbin Carroll tacked on a sacrifice fly that made it 5-0.
Nelson looked dominant through the first five innings of his start but started to tire in the sixth. After ringing up Nico Hoerner to open the inning, he fell behind 3-1 to Michael Busch before giving up a double and then walking Seiya Suzuki on four pitches. He finally wore down Ian Happ after a six-pitch at-bat, getting an extended strike call to set a new career high in strikeouts on his 96th and final pitch. He finished one out shy of his sixth quality start since June 3.
The Diamondbacks bullpen bent but did not break in this game. Kevin Ginkel’s first pitch was smoked back up the middle to put Chicago on the board, but he bounced back to retire the next four hitters. Justin Martinez failed to retire any of the three hitters he faced, as a single and two walks loaded the bases with no outs. Ryan Thompson battled through four tough at-bats but held the Cubs to just one run in the frame in the game’s decisive moment. Paul Sewald allowed back-to-back singles in the ninth to bring up the tying run to the plate with one out then struck out Busch and Suzuki to close out his 14th save of the year.
Next Game
The Diamondbacks will take on the Cubs with a chance to secure a series win. Zac Gallen (6-5, 3.87 ERA) is coming off a couple of rough starts against Atlanta and Toronto. Meanwhile Chicago will send struggling right-hander Kyle Hendricks (2-7, 6.78 ERA) to the mound. First pitch at Wrigley Field will be at 4:00 P.M. MST, with the game being broadcast nationally on FOX.
Diamondbacks face tough decision with Ryne Nelson once rotation gets healthy
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
