Even beat writer Steve Gilbert seemed exhausted by last night’s nailbiter and it’s hard to blame him for being physically and emotionally worn out after a 12-inning, four hour marathon game. It’s also understandable for the players themselves to feel similarly and I fully expected some kind of hangover effect for one or both of these teams coming into today. While it wasn’t the most glamourous game of baseball that’s ever been played, there was little evidence of any lingering effects from last night’s game – at least for the D-Backs who looked focused and prepared throughout the afternoon. That goes doubly for Eduardo Rodriguez who continues to put his worst outing of the season in the rearview mirror with his best start of the season and one of the best starts of his career with eight innings of scoreless ball.
Rodriguez’s teammates weren’t quite as dominant with the bats, but with that kind of performance from their starter, they quite literally didn’t need much offense to secure the win. After being held hitless their first time through lineup against youngster Jared Jones, the D-Backs made some adjustments on their second opportunity. Corbin Carroll opened the fourth inning with a leadoff double and then stole third for good measure to put himself within sacrifice fly range, but Gabriel Moreno had other ideas. Instead of settling for one run, Moreno crushed a low and away slider to dead center and nearly crushed one of the Pirates’ bushes by the batter’s eye in the process. That blast constituted the entirety of the Arizona offensive attack until the sixth when they built a nice two-out rally that started with the bane of relief pitching: a two-out walk. The recipient, Moreno again, advanced to third on a bloop single from Ketel Marte and then scored on a Max Kepler single that just evaded second baseman Brandon Lowe. It was a beautiful rally and one they’ll need to continue creating in their postseason pursuits.
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Regardless, today was Rodriguez’s day. He looked completely unfazed for most of the game and had sharp command of all five of his pitches. His changeup was particularly devastating with seven of his 15 whiffs coming on that pitch alone. It wasn’t a strikeout heavy afternoon with just two on the afternoon, but he induced plenty of weak contact with just five balls put into play that are considered “hard hit” (95 MPH or higher) for the entire afternoon. He was also especially efficient in his pitch count as the Pirates were aggressive very early in the counts throughout the game and he dialed up two crucial double play groundouts to extinguish rallies before they could even get started in the first and fourth innings. Amazingly, the lefty only allowed six baserunners total in the outing including just one walk – an important secondary marker for Rodriguez who has been a bit walk-prone this season at times.
I think a special note of appreciation towards the Arizona starting pitching in this series is warranted. Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt, and Rodriguez combined for 20.2 IP in three days against the Pirates and allowed just one unearned run in that span. There are certainly complaints about the bullpen – particularly in last night’s near debacle – but you would be hard-pressed to find much room for protestation with run prevention like that from the starting pitchers. It’s especially encouraging to see from Pfaadt and Kelly who have both had their well-publicized struggles at various times this season. The Pittsburgh offense is sneakily good too, tied for second in the majors in runs per game with 5.21, third in OPS at .759, and their 980 hits is the most in the entire major leagues. The whole team will need to keep the positive momentum rolling if they want to keep pushing for a postseason berth.
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