The Dbacks dropped the second game of the series against the Angels Tuesday night 7-0. The offense had absolutely nothing and Merrill Kelly got lit once again. Tonight marked the team’s 7th shutout loss of the season.
Merrill Kelly did not have anything today as he gave up 6 ER in 5.1 innings. He allowed the Dbacks to get into a hole early thanks to a couple of hits in the second inning, a home run in the third inning, and a big 2 run home run in the 5th inning. After it appeared that Kelly had turned a corner after some early season struggles, it seems as though Kelly has regressed over his past couple of starts. A concerning trend for a 37-year-old pitcher the Dbacks just gave a multiyear deal too whose season ERA is now 5.81.
The Dbacks offense was able to get nothing going tonight. The unit was able to muster up only 4 hits the whole night, 3 of which came from the big 3 at the top of the lineup. The Dbacks offense has generally fared well against left-handed pitchers so far this season, but they looked uncomfortable all night against Detmers. Something that seems to correlate fairly well with offensive success for this unit has been the amount of walks and deep counts the lineup is able to work. However, tonight the offense walked only 1 time which tells you about all you need to know as the approaches were just not there. Perhaps tonight is just one of those nights you chalk it up to running into an opposing pitcher who is on his game as Reid Detmers has really been an excellent pitcher so far this season. He looked every bit tonight like the pitcher with an xERA of 2.87, almost a full run lower than his season ERA.
There was really nothing positive to report from this game, so I am not going to try and come up with anything and I am going to end this recap a little early for all of our sakes. The Dbacks will look to salvage a series win against the Angels tomorrow as they send Eduardo Rodriguez to the hill.
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