Diamondbacks 3, Cardinals 8 - Not how you plan it

Fresh off taking two of three from the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Diamondbacks headed on a weeklong adventure with a 4-game series with the Cardinals and a 3-game set with the Marlins. Humberto Castellanos faced off against Dakota Hudson in the opener looking to keep his solid start after replacing Caleb Smith in the rotation. He’s struggled with length, going 4 and 5 innings in his first two appearances but overall has been another bright spot in the rotation to begin the year.

The D-backs bats’ struggled from the get-go against Hudson, with a 2-out walk all the team could muster in the first. The Cardinals were the exact opposite. Tommy Edman led things off with a 5 pitch walk, as Castellanos couldn’t find the zone early on, and Paul Goldschmidt singled to put runners on the corners. A sac fly followed, scoring the Cardinals first run, and after another single by Arenado, Dickerson hit a sac fly to center to give the home team a 2-0 lead.

After another 1-2-3 inning in the 2nd, the Cardinals kept piling on runs. Harrison Bader singled to start and moved to 3rd after a bobble from Perdomo on the groundout by Molina. DeJong was hit by a pitch before Edman and Goldschmidt combined for back to back RBI singles and a Tyler O’Neill sac fly made it 5-0 all before the D-backs even realized they were playing a game today.

The offense continued to struggle through Hudson’s day, as he pushed a no-hitter into the 6th inning. Perdomo grounded out to start the 6th, but Varsho lined a single to break it up. Another walk followed but that was it, as Peralta flew out and Walker grounded out to end the threat and inning for the D-backs.

In relief of Castellanos was Corbin Martin, who was great in his first 3 innings but was kept out a little too long as the Cardinals solved him their 2nd time thru against Martin. Bader and Molina singled, and after a strike out, Edman singled to center scoring Bader, with both runners moving up on the throwing error. After a pitching change to Widener, Goldschmidt singled, scoring two and giving the Cardinals an 8-0 lead, all but securing a victory this year against this team who’ve scored 5 or more runs only once.

Widener pitched a scoreless 7th, and newly recalled Tyler Holton pitched a scoreless 8th, grabbing his first career MLB strikeout in the process. Congrats to him!

The offense finally showed up late in this one, scoring 3 runs in the final two frames to make it somewhat respectable. A single from Ahmed and homer from Pavin Smith scored two to make it 8-2.

And in the 9th, the team actually loaded the bases after a Kelly singled scored Walker, who doubled, but Varsho struck out looking for a merciful end to this one. 8-3 final.

There wasn’t much to cheer about in this one WPA-wise, as Geraldo Perdomo was the only hitter with a positive +.011 on the night. Corbin Martin actually had a +.007 in his 3.1IP of work but all in all a bad night that not many saw with the Phoenix Suns gobbling up eyeballs. Join us tomorrow for the 2nd game of this series as the old guys face off in Bumgarner and Wainwright. Stop on by!