Ryne Nelson Mows Down Royals in Dominant D-backs Win

The Arizona Diamondbacks rebounded with a rout of Kansas City.

Jul 5, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Ryne Nelson (19) throws against the Kansas City Royals in the first inning at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images / Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

The Arizona Diamondbacks snapped their losing streak on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Kansas City Royals by a score of 7-1. Ryne Nelson was excellent, and the D-backs' offense did its part.

The Diamondbacks inch closer to .500 at 44-45. The Royals fall to 42-48.

Arizona Diamondbacks' Ryne Nelson Deals

Nelson was electric on Saturday afternoon. He was efficient all game, needing just 86 pitches (63 strikes) to complete seven innings. He allowed just four hits and one earned run, striking out five without issuing a walk.

Nelson set down the first 16 batters he faced, taking a perfect game into the sixth inning. The sixth offered the only real trouble of the day for the right-hander, as he allowed a trio of singles, including an RBI knock by star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.

But a nice sliding catch by Alek Thomas in center field saved at least one run, and Nelson went on to throw a scoreless seventh, working around a leadoff single with a ground ball double play.

Nelson's velocity reached up to 99 MPH on his trademark fastball, stifling a Royals offense that unloaded for nine runs on 12 hits against Eduardo Rodriguez on Friday. Nelson's season ERA is now a team-low 3.39.

"Pretty much the standard procedure, just getting ahead of the guys and filling it up with the fastball and then working the other stuff off of that," Nelson said postgame.

"As soon as you go through a lineup one time perfect, to throw a perfect game, you've got to throw the first three perfect too. It creeps in there a little bit, but once we score some runs, I'm just thinking about going out there and putting up a shutdown inning and putting a zero on the board.

"It felt great [to go seven full innings]," Nelson continued. "It always looks a little bit better when it doesn't have a decimal in between it. I like the way it looks a little bit better."

Manager Torey Lovullo praised his starter's outing in his postgame press conference.

"Pretty lights out performance by Ryne Nelson on a day we really needed it," Lovullo said. "Things were stretched out pretty thin last night. He comes in and just solidifies the entire game. Lets us get our footing offensively."

Kevin Ginkel and Shelby Miller each pitched a scoreless inning to shut down the contest, allowing just one baserunner to keep Nelson in line for his fifth win of the season.

Arizona Diamondbacks' Offense Solid vs Royals

Arizona got to Royals' starter Michael Wacha early, but stranded bases loaded in the second inning.

But they'd score two runs in the bottom of the third on a hit-by-pitch, walk and pair of RBI singles by Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. plated two more in the fifth with a two-run double. Gurriel would later triple and score on a two-out knock by James McCann in the seventh.

Gurriel finished 2-for-4 with the double, triple and 2 RBI. Suárez and McCann also finished 2-for-4. Alek Thomas and Pavin Smith each worked two walks. Corbin Carroll went 0-for-5 in his first start back from the IL, but did hit one ball 105 MPH for an out.

"I think [Carroll] had a really good left-on-left approach. ... So I wasn't looking for hits. I was just looking for the body and the mind and the spirit of Corbin Carroll to be out there, because he lifts us up by just walking on the field between the white lines," Lovullo said.

"It was a day full of quality at-bats. ... I've been saying that now for the past year and a half. This team offensively is very, very capable every single day of going out there and doing something like that."

Randal Grichuk added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth, blasting a two-run homer deep to right field for a 7-1 lead. The ball cleared the fence, but bounced back into the field of play, going down as an inside-the-park homer, as it was not reviewed.

Randal Grichuk circles the bases on what looked like a stand up inside-the-parker (it hit a chair over the fence) pic.twitter.com/xBInVfD98H

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 5, 2025

The D-backs rapped out a total of eight hits and six walks. They went 5-for-16 with runners in scoring position.

Arizona will go for the series win Sunday against Michael Lorenzen. Anthony DeSclafani will make a spot start for the D-backs at 1:10 p.m.

Arizona Diamondbacks Latest News

feed