Nelson is Nails Against Ohtani, Trout and the Angels

As good as Ryne Nelson was in his last start against the Giants, he was even better tonight, holding the Angels to just one run in 7.1 innings as the D-backs downed the Angels 3-1 in front of a sellout crowd at Angels Stadium

Nelson struck out Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani twice each, and had six strikeouts in total. He jumped ahead all night long, attacking with his his fastball and throwing first pitch strikes to 19 of 27 batters. He recorded an out on the first or second pitch of the at bat to nine batters.

Of the three hits Nelson allowed, two were one out doubles that he stranded both times, once in the 2nd and another in the 5th inning. The only blemish was a solo homer by Anthony Rendon on a fastball that didn't get in quite enough.

It was the fastball location that was key, as the Angels swung early and either hit into outs, swung and missed, or fouled it off. That set up his change up, which Brent Strom said after the game has really improved. Talking about striking out Ohtani twice, pitching coach Brent Strom had this to say

"He went after him. The second time around we changed it to more changeups. The first time around it was power fastballs and we went at him. I think when a guy like Ohtani is on a roll like that he knows that people are going to dance around him. The best way to combat that is to say screw that, I'm going hard at you and not dance because that's when you get in trouble. He blasted him early, then threw him some changeups, and then blasted him late up."

Nelson was far from overwhelmed by the big moments against two of the best hitters in the game. "You try not to get star struck. When I'm out there I don't really see the hitter in the box. I see the catcher and I see what we're trying to execute so for me it's blocking out that extra noise"

Torey Lovullo spoke after the game about what it means to see young players like this grow and develop and come out the other side of some rough moments and excel.

"It's probably one of the most gratifying parts of my job, when you coach them up, and they accept it, and emotionally you're there to support them.....It's not an easy game and you're going to have good and bad moments. To stand by these guys and support them, fundamentally, physically, and emotionally is the most important part of my job. There's times when it doesn't work out. But when it comes out the other side it's probably the most satisfying part of my job.

Nelson final line was 7.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1BB, 6K, 1 HR. His record goes to 5-4 and he lowered his ERA to 4.67.

The D-backs offense spent the first five innings putting men on base against Tyler Anderson only to leave them on. They had two on and one out in the second, but failed to score. They had the bases loaded with one out in the fifth inning, and again failed to bring a runner home. They did manage to run Anderson's pitch count up though and he was out of the gave after the fifth inning.

Arizona finally got on the board with two runs in the 6th when five runners reach base against reliever Sam Bachman. With runners on first and third and two outs, Dominic Fletcher hit a ground ball towards the hole between short and third. His brother David dove for the ball, but it hit off his glove and trickled into left field for a game-tying base hit. A throwing error by Rendon brought in Nick Ahmed with the go-ahead run.

One inning later Jake McCarthy hit an RBI triple into the right field corner, scoring Gabriel Moreno who had singled and stole second. That insurance run made the score 3-1. While it didn't factor directly in the outcome, it did provide a margin for error which might have helped later.

Hit the NOS, Jake. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/NzYqZQiHX6
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) July 2, 2023

Andrew Chafin got two strikeouts in the 8th in relief of Nelson. Scott McGough then came on for the save in the 9th. He got two quick outs. The first was a smoked line drive by Ohtani, off the bat at 99.6 MPH, but right at first baseman Christian Walker. Rendon popped out but then McGough issued back-to-back two-out walks. With 44,000 Angels fans on their feet Brent Strom came out to calm his reliever and give him a breather. It worked, as McGough gathered himself and then struck out Hunter Renfroe to end the game, picking up his 7th save of the year.

The D-backs won their 50th game of the year and move to 3.0 games up on the Dodgers who lost today. They didn't win their 50th game last year until August 9th, and just two years ago they won their 50th game on October 1st in a 52-110 season. They will go for the series sweep tomorrow behind Zac Gallen at 1:07 P.M. PST.