Diamondbacks Eduardo Rodriguez Looks to Repeat Success vs Guardians

The Arizona Diamondbacks will hope to avoid a series loss to the Cleveland Guardians Tuesday night at Chase Field. First pitch is 6:40 p.m. MST

The D-backs offense was dormant against Gavin Williams and the Cleveland bullpen, scratching out just five hits and scoring one ninth inning run in a 3-1 loss. It was their fourth loss in a row and dropped their record to 60-66. The Guardians improved to 64-60 as the closed to within three games of the third AL Wild card.

Diamondbacks and Guardians Pitching Matchup

Tanner Bibee and Eduardo Rodriguez Stats | Jack Sommers

Tanner Bibee has only faced the D-backs once in his career, back in 2023. He took home a win despite giving up three runs in five innings.

2025 has been a rough season for the 26 year old right-hander. He put up six WAR and a 3.25 ERA over his first two major league seasons. But his ERA has ballooned from 3.79 to 4.54 over his last 10 starts.

He throws his four-seamer more often to right-hand batters and his sinker is reserved mostly for left-hand batters. Both offering average over 94 MPHboth over 94 MPH. He mixes in plenty of cutters and sweepers for swing and miss. Bibee has given up 22 homers this year, which has been his biggest problem.

Eduardo Rodriguez went seven innings for the first time in the Diamondbacks portion of his career on August 14 against the Rockies. The veteran left-hander allowed just one run on a solo homer.

Rodriguez got on his best run as a Diamondback this season in June, when he posted a 1.98 ERA in five starts. That was followed by two disastrous starts however, and he's since alternated good and bad starts over the last month.

It's all added up to an ERA of 5.40. His peripherals uniformly suggest a pitcher who has not been that bad however. His FIP is 4.60, his xFIP is 4.36, an his xERA from Statcast is 4.38. Those three peripheral metrics average out to 4.44, almost a full run lower than his actual ERA.

Rodriguez has a great track record against the Guardians in his career. In nine prior starts he's 7-0 with a 2.51 ERA. His most recent outing was last year when he threw 5.2 innings, allowing three runs and picking up the win.

The hitter to watch though, as always, is Jose Ramirez. He has three homers in 27 PA and an .878 OPS against Rodriguez.

Diamondbacks Lineup vs Guardians

Tuesday night baseball. https://t.co/k9Xjx1ui6d pic.twitter.com/fd7gtRfGfK
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) August 19, 2025

As Torey Lovullo indicated on Monday, Pavin Smith will get all of the starts against right-hand pitchers, with Tyler Locklear pinch hitting and starting against lefties. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. gets a day at DH in place of Adrian Del Castillo and Jake McCarthy plays left field.

Length from the Diamondbacks bottom four spots in the lineup has been lacking during their four game losing streak. Regardless of who has been in those lineup spots, they're just not getting on base and passing the baton.

Over the last four games those spots in the order are batting 8-for-60, .133, with three walks, 19 strikeouts, and a .185 OBP. Somebody near the bottom of the order needs to start getting on base to flip the lineup over to the best three hitters on the team.

Diamondbacks and Guardians Bullpens

The D-backs got two innings from John Curtiss on Monday and one from Kyle Backhus. Neither allowed a run and kept the game close. Curtiss will certainly be down for tonight's game after pitching two innings. Based on recent usage patterns, Torey Lovullo could look to avoid using Backhus on a back to back.

Other than long man Jake Woodford, who threw 37 pitches on Sunday, everyone else in the pen should be available to Lovullo.

The Guardians used four relievers on Monday, including closer Cade Smith and primary setup man Hunter Gaddis. Both of them worked on Sunday too, so will likely be unavailable to Stephen Vogt.

Matt Festa has worked three of the last four games and Nic Enright threw 34 pitches on Sunday, so their availability is in question too. Look for Vogt to push Bibee for length to protect his bullpen.