Another Non-Competitive Bumgarner Start Sinks Diamondbacks
It was another disastrous start for Madison Bumgarner, resulting in a 14-5 loss for the Diamondbacks against the Cardinals. His outing started with back to back doubles by Tommy Edman and Dylan Carlson, scoring the first Cardinals run and only got worse from there. A gift called strike three on a ball well off the plate to Paul Goldschmidt wasn't enough to get Bumgarner going in the right direction. He followed that up by walking Nolan Arenado, and allowing the runners to get great jumps on a double steal. A throwing error by Jose Herrera on the play scoring Carlson. Willson Contreras doubled home Arenado, and just like that the D-backs were in a 3-0 hole.
Arizona answered back to tie the game, thanks to a two run homer by Alek Thomas in the second inning and a sacrifice fly by Christian Walker, scoring Ketel Marte in the third inning. Marte had singled and Corbin Carroll's bloop ground rule double down the left field line put Marte on third. Thomas' home run was especially impressive as it was a fastball at the very top of the zone. It was Thomas' first homer of the year and he is finally being rewarded for a lot of hard contact.
Despite getting out of a bases loaded jam in the second inning, Bumgarner was not able to shut it down in the bottom half of the third. He walked Willson Contreras, and got into a shouting match with the Cardinals DH in the process. A double, a single, and then a two run homer by Tommy Edman followed and Bumgarner had given up four more runs. That was his final inning of work, leaving with the score 7-3. He allowed seven hits, four walks and a home run. His season ERA of 10.26 is indicative of how non competitive his starts have been. He has an 8.11 FIP and 7.44 xFIP, and a 0-3 record with one no decision. So there are no moral victories or stories of hard luck to be had here. The questions of how many more starts the team will give him before they pull the plug will continue to swirl until they do.
Pavin Smith got the D-backs within three runs with a solo homer in the fourth. But reliever Peter Soloman gave up a two out, two-run triple to Edman in the bottom half of the inning. Carlson singled Edman home putting the Cardinals back up 10-4. Edman was just a single shy of the cycle in just the fifth inning but ended up going hitless in his final two at bats. Soloman ran into more trouble in the 6th, walking the bases loaded before surrendering a grand slam to Nolan Gorman. That put St. Louis up 14-4 and there would be no comeback today. Despite Solomon giving up the seven runs and putting the game out of reach, the tone had already been set with the short and brutal outing by Bumgarner.
Adding injury to insult, catcher Jose Herrera had to come out of the game in the at bat prior to Gorman's homer, due to a foul tip into the face mask. After a lengthy discussion with Herrera and the trainer, Torey Lovullo took no chances and pulled him, bringing in Gabriel Moreno who had caught the night before. The D-backs don't have another catcher on the 40-man roster, so if Herrera needs to enter the concussion protocol, they'll have to make a roster move to bring in another catcher. P.J. Higgins and Ali Sanchez have been doing the catching for Reno. Sanchez was pulled for a pinch hitter in the 7th inning of the Ace's game today. Higgins narrowly lost out in the spring competition to Herrera for an opening day roster spot, has been getting the lions share of the innings behind the plate for Reno.
The Diamondbacks thus conclude their six game road trip by going 3-3. They'll take their 11-8 record back home to begin a four game series against the San Diego Padres. That game starts at 6:40 P.M. at Chase Field. Ryne Nelson will face Michael Wacha.
