Arizona Diamondbacks 6, Colorado Rockies 0: Gimme a Hell Yeah

*glass shatters

*music blaring

*beers flowing

Snake Pitters, it brings me great joy to be back here bringing you a recap tonight. I took a step back as my mental state made a turn for the worst at the beginning of this year. I made the mistake of equating the pursuit of happiness with the pursuit of money and unfortunately tied my identity to a job. I withdrew from all of my favorite activities including Diamondbacks baseball. As a result, I didn’t start actively watching until about two months ago. Of course, I was at Opening Day but wasn’t present mentally. What started as perhaps the worst year of my life has quickly turned into the best as I am expecting my first child in the winter. Now that I’m feeling myself it is time to do what I do best and bring this game to you via written word. What a good one it was, so if you’re ready for a recap gimme a hell yeah!

Torey Lovullo was absent from the dugout attending a celebration of life for the late Nicole Hazen, so Jeff Banister stepped into the manager’s role this evening. Zac Gallen took the bump looking to build off of his solid previous outing. Kind of difficult to best seven innings of three hit, shutout ball but he did just that with another seven innings of two hit, shutout ball. He was so effective that this contest concluded in a brisk two hours and forty-seven minutes. Much welcome for my first recap this season and at Coors Field no less. After a nineteen pitch first, he proceeded with ten pitches each in the second and third innings and thirteen in the fourth. Jordan Luplow made a difficult leaping grab in the bottom of the first to rob Charlie Blackmon of a double.

Newcomer Emmanuel Rivera put the Diamondbacks on top with solo home runs in the first and third innings. Carson Kelly would have had at least three doubles on the evening had Ryan McMahon not robbed one of them with a nice diving grab at third base in the fifth inning. Geraldo Perdomo kept that same fifth frame alive with a two out walk. Josh Rojas battled his way back from an 0-2 count and ultimately hit one over the wall in left field making the score four to nothing.

Gallen faced one above the minimum after his first inning of work and concluded his evening with a pair of strikeouts against C.J. Cron and Ryan McMahon in the seventh. His final line was an impressive seven innings, two hits, one walk, six strikeouts, and zero runs. Gallen has now lowered his ERA to 2.94, his WHIP has dipped below 1.00, and he has completed seven innings five times this season. He only seems to be getting better with experience as he remains healthy. It is fortunate for the D’backs that he isn’t eligible for free agency until 2026 being that his agent is Scott Boras who advises his clients against signing a contract extension prior to hitting the open market.

Arizona added to their four run lead in the eighth inning on a little league home run from Daulton Varsho. Technically, it wasn’t scored a home run because Charlie Blackmon had a hell of a time fielding the ball cleanly in the right field corner. However, anytime a player of Varsho’s speed beats out a play at home I’m gonna classify it as a little league home run despite the official scoring. Demz da rulez.

Noe Ramirez took over for Gallen in the eighth. He quickly recorded the first two outs with a pair of strikeouts, but was lifted in favor of Joe Mantiply who finished the frame with ease. Arizona added their sixth and final run of the evening in the ninth inning via Carson Kelly’s sixth double and Josh Rojas’s’s’s’s’s third RBI.

Honestly, the closest the Colorado Rockies came to scoring was in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. Ian Kennedy was on to conclude matters recording the first two outs quickly on a pair of groundouts. Brendan Rodgers doubled to left field bringing up the powerful slugger, C.J. Cron. He bashed a fly ball to deep center field that would have put two on the board for Colorado had Alek Thomas, who did not start the game, made this spectacular play:

I mean... if this does not win defensive play of the year it is going to be beat out by another one of Alek Thomas’s’s’s’s spectacular grabs.

I vaguely recall an email in the offseason stating that the roll call feature no longer works, and not seeing it in any of the most recent recaps I’ll forgo that. Steven Burt had the only Sedona red comment with this beautifully crafted meme comparing Just Dingers Martinez to Emmanuel Rivera. Masterpiece I tell ya.

FanGraphs

I am incredibly grateful to be able to shoot Jim an email on a whim to pick up this recap. I am even more grateful to be alive here and well doing this. Things got really scary for me for a few months, but I can honestly say that I have emerged as an improved person. Thank you all so very much for taking the time to read. I will be back again soon from time to time as I looked forward to this recap all week. And that’s the bottom line.