Snake Pit Sim Season: 6/26 - A Dumpster Fire Celebrating the Debut of Brandon Marsh

Looking to inject some new blood into the system after a much needed off-day, the Diamondbacks called up center fielder, Brandon Marsh from Reno. The left-hand hitting Marsh ranked #82 on the top-100 prospect list. His AAA line of .281/.363/.428 was good for an OPS+ of 104. A speedster with a great glove and a powerful arm, Marsh also demonstrates great gap power. While his home is center field, he has both the arm and the bat to play right if necessary.

Brandon Marsh’s first game was not a great one. Batting in the lead-off position, the young Marsh was 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout. That alone, would not make for a poor first game. In fact, as far as Marsh goes, the game was entirely normal. Not every player is going to wallop the first pitches they see in the majors. Sometimes it takes a game or two in order to get those first hits under the belt. No, the day’s travesty is brought to you by Jon Duplantier. Without suffering injury, Duplantier was pulled from the game after only ²⁄₃ of an inning of work.

In his very abbreviated outing, Duplantier allowed six runs all of them earned. Somehow, Duplantier managed this feat without surrendering a single long ball. He did, however, rediscover the control issues which plagued him from time to time in the minors. The right-hander allowed four free passes in addition to six hits. Duplantier’s day finally came to an end when he allowed a 2-RBI double off the bat of the opposing pitcher, Nick Pivetta. Yes, the Phillies battered around and then some in the bottom of the first inning.

On the other side of things, Pivetta was dealing. The Phillies’ starter allowed only two runs through 6 ¹⁄₃ innings of work. Given that Pivetta also drove in two runs of his own, he can claim to have come out even on the day at the very worst.

If only Arizona could have found a way to score against Pivetta, or the Philadelphia bullpen, this might have still been a winnable game by the Diamondbacks. The continued lack of consistent offense once again bit the Snakes. Merrill Kelly led the bullpen to 7 ¹⁄₃ innings of shutout baseball, 4 ¹⁄₃ of which he was personally responsible for. Yet, despite keeping the Phillies from scoring, Arizona simply could not close the gap created by Duplantier’s epic meltdown. To cap off his less than happy debut, not only did Brandon Marsh lead off the game, but he also made the final out of the game, grounding out to second to bring the entire travesty to an end.

Final Score: AZ 2 - PHI 6

The player of the game was Nick Pivetta. His pitching alone likely would have garnered him the award. Adding a hit and two RBI simply cemented Pivetta as the man of the hour.

The Diamondbacks will try to put this all behind them and get back to winning baseball tomorrow when they send Zac Gallen to the mound. The Phillies will be starting Jake Arrieta.