Burnes Debuts as D-backs Fall to Rockies in Cactus League Opener

The Arizona Diamondbacks dropped their season opener to the Colorado Rockies by a score of 12-8 to open Cactus League play on Friday, behind the debut of newest ace Corbin Burnes.

Burnes worked just one dominant inning in his Diamondbacks debut, striking out the side on just 16 pitches (12 strikes). All three punchouts came on his famous mid-90s cutter.

Burnes set down Brenton Doyle and Ryan McMahon swinging, and caught Kyle Farmer looking at a strike three, which was initially called a ball.

But with the newly-implemented ABS Challenge system in place, catcher Gabriel Moreno's first-ever challenge was successful, as was his second, one batter later.

With no offense to show for either team so far, D-backs' right-hander Roman Angelo walked the bases loaded in the third inning, but escaped with a strikeout of Nolan Jones.

Arizona responded quickly. Recently extended shortstop Geraldo Perdomo hit a rocket of a ground rule double, and was singled in by All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte for a 1-0 lead.

Later, a two-run single by Eugenio Suárez extended the lead to 3-0. The third baseman finished his day 2-for-2 with a pair of runs knocked in.

As defensive replacements began to trickle in, Angelo was hit around in the fourth. A double, single and walk caused manager Torey Lovullo to pull him in favor of righty Gerardo Gutierrez, who quickly surrendered an RBI single and one-out grand slam to Doyle, giving Colorado a 5-3 lead.

In the fifth, speedy D-backs utilityman Garrett Hampson singled, advanced on a grounder and stole third. With one out, infielder Ildemaro Vargas delivered Arizona's first Cactus League home run over the right field wall, regaining a 6-5 Diamondbacks lead.

From there, there was little offense to be had on either side, until the Rockies exploded for a five-run ninth inning.

D-backs left-hander Jake Rice gave up four hits, leading to four Colorado runs. Fellow southpaw Shane Telfer relieved Rice with runners at first and second, and promptly plunked two batters and threw a wild pitch, leading to a 12-6 deficit.

The D-backs mustered some offense in the home half. Grae Kessinger and Christian Pache singled to bring in Tim Tawa, then Tristin English grounded one up the middle to make it 12-8, which would ultimately hold up.

After the game, Lovullo spoke to the media, including Diamondbacks On SI's Jack Sommers. Lovullo said he looks beyond a less-than-ideal final score when evaluating Friday's game.

"You know, when you look inside the game, there's a lot of things that we did that are more pleasing to my eye. ... So I'm going to throw out the results...

"We have young pitchers coming up from minor leagues that are really helping us out, but overall I was pleased enough with the effort even though it didn't look that pretty," Lovullo said.

The manager spoke on Burnes' excellent debut, and the chemistry he's beginning to build with Gabriel Moreno. More on that can be found here.

"Corbin [Burnes] for me, he had a great first inning, was starting to really hone in on the strike zone, throwing several pitches and just for me to watch him for the first time and get to know what he looks like stepping on our mound, throwing to our catchers was pretty exciting."

"Gabi has come a long way in this department. This will be our third year together and he has taken everything in stride and he's exactly where he should be right now.

"So I think his development with [Burnes], and [Burnes] bringing him along will be a great piece for Gabi to get to that next level," Lovullo said.

The manager said that it was most important to see Moreno get into a "rhythm" catching pitches from Burnes, and praised the job his young catcher has done so far. Lovullo said he "loved" the ABS challenges made by Moreno.

The skipper said the ABS system is a learning process, since no contributions are allowed from the dugout before making a challenge, but he was pleased with the results of Friday's attempts.

The Diamondbacks are now one game down, and while the final score might not be what fans are looking for, Lovullo said it was a positive step forward.

"We're a good team. We've got a lot of depth. It was a good lineup, and I felt like guys controlled the zone. It's day one of spring training, so you're going to see some awkward approaches and awkward swings, but overall, I feel like the entire group today did a really good job," Lovullo said.

Burnes Debuts as D-backs Fall to Rockies in Cactus League Opener

Related Content

Corbin Burnes and Gabriel Moreno Have Great First Start Together for D-backs