Arizona Diamondbacks 0, Miami Marlins 8: I’m Terribly Vexed.

The Arizona Diamondbacks went into this game looking to put the series opening headache against the Miami Marlins behind them. Luke Weaver was on tap to face off against the Marlins’ bullpen with Ross Detwiler getting the “start”. For as hot as the Diamondbacks were to conclude the month of April, the shimmer is beginning to fade away reminding us that there are still significant issues with this team.

Tim Locastro, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Christian Walker all struck out in order to begin the game. Luke Weaver barely made it through the first inning needing a total of 33 pitches. He walked the first batter he faced, Miguel Rojas, but rebounded by striking out Jesus Aguilar. Corey Dickerson hit a pop fly to left field, and David Peralta appeared to have a play on it with a sliding catch, but it clanked off his glove to put Marlins on first and second. A quick, loud, lineout from Adam Duvall to the center field warning track gave hope that maybe Weaver could escape unscathed. Friends, he did not. Consecutive singles to center field from Brian Anderson and Isan Diaz gave Miami a 2-0 lead before Lewis Brinson struck out to end the inning.

Arizona quickly and quietly went down in order again in the top of the second courtesy of Eduardo Escobar, Pavin Smith, and David Peralta giving Weaver no time to recuperate. All of the sudden that top of the league offense we saw in April is now unable to put up anything against the lowly Marlins.

Miami took the air out of the stadium, and there is a lot of it with no fans, putting this game on the shelf in the bottom of the second. Weaver paired his 33 pitch first inning with 26 to follow in the next. Jose Devers was the pinch hitter for Ross Detwiler with one out, this being a bullpen game for Miami, and singled to right field. Rojas hit a low liner to Tim Locastro in center field who attempted to make the catch on a dive, but the ball went past him all the way to the wall. Pavin Smith was so very slow in backing up the play, and completely missed the cutoff man, allowing Devers to score and Rojas to make it to third base. Aguilar took his second strikeout of the game giving Miami their second out of the inning, but the scoring was hardly over. Weaver walked Dickerson, and then served up a chest high meatball to Adam Duvall who promptly deposited it over the left field wall for a three run home run. 6-0 Marlins in the second inning. Yeehaw.

There honestly is not much else I care to write about, or you care to read about, this game. Call me lazy or a sour fan? Just take a look at the win probability graph. It flatlines in favor of Miami at this point. Hell, even the gameday thread dried up by this point. Weaver was able to survive to finish the fourth inning retiring the side in order in both the third and fourth. Matt Peacock did the same in the fifth and sixth, but the Diamondbacks’ offense had zero interest in beating up on the Marlins’ bullpen to make it competitive. Miami scored their final pair of runs off Joakim Soria, making his return from the injured list, in the seventh.

How much longer does Weaver last in the rotation? What options does the team even have to replace him?

Final score 8-0.

FanGraphs

Total comments: 85

Total commenters: 18

Commenter list: Augdogs, AzDbackfanInDc, AzRattler, GuruB, Jack Sommers, Jim McLennan, Keegan Thompson, Makakilo, Michael McDermott, MrMrrbi, NikT77, Oldenschoole, Smurf1000, Snake_Bitten, edbigghead, gzimmerm, kilnborn, makattack71