Diamondbacks shut out by Nationals, lose 1-0

Shamelessly stealing the concept for today from our esteemed Turambar, I’ll be doing a beercap. I credit Patrick for expanding my horizons when it comes to beer consumption and it’s been an enjoyable journey. I picked up a 4 Peaks Brewing variety pack from Costco, ($26).

I also pinged Patrick for his advice on order of consumption, so as to maximize the palate experience. His response:

“Start with the WOW, then Kiltlifter, Hazy and finish with HopKnot”

One other feature is I’m going to try to get Mrs. Shoe to taste and review each beer with me. For anyone that has hung out with us, this is notable because she famously gets trashed after one drink. Who knows, I might even get lucky tonight !

On with the game then. Since it’s a 4:00 P.M. start we will go with inning recaps for the benefit of those not able to get off work early enough to watch the game.

T-1 Washington Nationals starter Joan Adon buzzes through the top of the order on 9 pitches. Varsho K, Marte F-7, Peralta, 4-3

B-1 Tyler Gilbert on the bump for the Diamondbacks. Following a lineout to center by the leadoff batter, Christian Walker corralled a 108MPH one hop smash off the bat of Juan Soto and flipped to Gilbert for the 2nd out. Doing him one better, Yonny Hernandez leaped high in the air to nab a 110 MPH line drive from Nelson Cruz.

The Joy Bus WOW Wheat

A fruity wheat beer, we both picked up the Orange flavors of course. Mrs Shoe thought she tasted pineapple too, but per the recipe link, it has Apricot and Vanilla. It is definitely more intense than your typical citrus beer. A nice bonus is a percentage of the sale of every one of these goes to help homebound cancer patients quality of life. (See ABOVE Link)

T-2: After Walker K’s looking, Smith breaks the hit seal early with a liner to right center. Seth Beer walks. But Carson Kelly hits into a 6-5 force and Hernandez taps out 5-3, stranding both runners.

B-2: Gilbert cruises through 2nd allowing just a harmless single. Just 28 pitches, 18 strikes through 2.

T-3: Geraldo Perdomo drew a leadoff walk, but top of the order all made quick outs on a total of 8 pitches without even advancing him to 2nd. THE. TOP. OF. THE. ORDER. HAS. SEEN. 17 PITCHES. RECORED. 6 OUTS.

B-3: 3 Up 3 Down for Nationals. Gilbert needed just 8 pitches and even got a K looking in the inning.

T-4: Victor Robles robbed Walker of a hit on a sinking liner, making a diving catch running in. Pavin Smith hit a smash to the wall in dead center and Robles almost got that one too, but it bounced off his glove and against the wall before Robles caught it while falling. Ruled A double. Seth Beer K’d looking and Kelly flew out to deep right center to strand another runner.

Kilt Lifter

Most will be familiar with this “flagship” Scottish Ale from our local brewery. Deep in color and taste, it’s aptly described as a “full body ale” on the website. You know you are getting something substantial. (AND ABV 6%). For some reason Mrs. Shoe thought she tasted grape juice. Might have to fire her as assistant taster.

B-4: Gilbert needed just 7 pitches to mow down the middle of the Nationals order Soto, Cruz and Josh Bell. He’s at just 43 pitches through 4. I’m pretty sure no other D-back starter this efficient so far.

T-5: Quick 1-2-3 inning on 7 pitches for Adon.

B-5: 1-2-3 inning on 12 pitches for Gilbert.

T-6: 1-2-3 inning for the Adon.

B-6: Strange play. Following a Robles base hit, Lucious Fox hit a sac bunt that was fielded by Gilbert who fired to Walker. Just as Walker was catching ball Fox’s helmet flew off of and hit Walker in the face and he dropped the ball. It was ruled a sac bunt and E-3. TOUGH error.

Sadly Cesar Hernandez doubled to left scoring the game’s first run and Nationals had 2nd & 3rd with nobody out. Soto tapped out to first, and Cruz was intentionally walked. Bell popped out to 2b and that was all for Gilbert as Torey Lovullo came out of the dugout and replaced him with Sean Poppen. He got Lane Thomas to K looking and strand the runners.

1-0 Nationals through 6.

Gilbert’s line: 5 ²⁄₃ IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 K. As Steve Berthiaume said, stand and applaud. After a flurry of hard contact in the first, it was mostly soft contact after that. Terrific outing.

HAZY IPA. Mrs Shoe climbs off the mat as she correctly identifies the passion fruit flavor of this fruity IPA. This is my favorite so far as well...although I know what’s coming later and have a feeling I’ll end up being team HopKnot. I probably should eat something.

T-7: Seth Beer had a one out single and that was all for Adon. He was relieved by Victor Arano. Of course Beer went no further. Kelly and pinch hitter Cooper Hummel both struck out.

Adon lowered his ERA from 10.00 to 5.87 this game, allowing just 3 hits and 2 walks in 6.1 IP.

B-7 : I guess things even out in baseball. After a Makiel Franco base hit, Riley Adams hit a groundball to Walker who threw wide to 2b and pulled Perdomo off the bag. But getting the benefit of the neighborhood play, Franco was rule out at 2b. Should have been safe and ruled an error. Poppen popped up Robles and struck out Fox to end the inning.

T-8: Dbacks go 3 up 3 down for the 5th time in 8 innings. Yay !

B-8: Joe Mantiply pitches a scoreless 1-2-3 inning.

RALLY BEER !?

HopKnot: Time to bring out the heavy hitter . I love this beer. Oddly smooth with just the twinge of bitterness you expect from a strong IPA. Can it do the trick for a D-backs 9th inning rally ?

T-9: Peralta ropes a line drive to right for a base hit, and Walker walked. Smith follows with a sharp single right to load em up for Beer. He sadly K’s on a fastball up and away. Jake McCarthy pinch hits for Kelly, but pops out meekly in foul territory off 3rd base on a 2-0 pitcher’s pitch that was barely on the inside corner. Alcantara flies out to left.

Bases loaded nobody out in the 9th in a one run game and they fail to plate a single run.

This is what is known as classic #Dbacky. It’s the 3rd time they’ve been shutout this season and they fall to 3-8 on the year. They played 18 innings and scored 1 run on 11 hits.

They’ve managed the lowest batting average and fewest hits for any team through their first 11 games since 1920. We thought last year’s team might have set enough records for ineptitude, but 2022 version says hold my beer. (Yes, pun intended)

Fangraphs Win Probability Box

Meat Loaf: Pavin Smith + .237

Janet: Sean Poppen .105. (WPA showing it’s flaws as Gilbert did not crack the top 3)

Frank N. Furter: Sergio Alcantara -.229

Riff Raff: Jake McCarthy -.225

No Sedona Red comments today. Sorry gang.