What To Make Of Ryne Nelson's Puzzling Start Against The Giants

A tough loss for the Diamondbacks saw a strange performance by Ryne Nelson.

May 13, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Ryne Nelson (19) comes off the field after he gives up a three run home run to the Texas Rangers during the fifth inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

It was, by no means, the strongest start of Arizona Diamondbacks righty Ryne Nelson's season. In fact, much of the data suggests it was a relatively poor one.

And yet, he walked off the mound against the San Francisco Giants with seven innings pitched three earned runs allowed, having given his team a chance to ultimately pull off a thrilling walk-off victory.

In terms of overall numbers, it was Nelson's worst start since he gave up six runs in five innings to the San Diego Padres. In terms of exit velocity, it looked like he didn't have much working for him. But it went down as a quality start, and, in a way, actually showed just how tough to punish the right-hander truly is on the mound.

What to take away from Diamondbacks' Ryne Nelson's uneven start

May 13, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Ryne Nelson (19) pitches against the Texas Rangers during the third inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Nelson only managed to pick up seven total whiffs during his start. Only two of them came on his dominant four-seam fastball.

Four came on his slider, and one came on his recently-implemented two-seam fastball.

But the real story was his arsenal usage. Nelson came into Tuesday's game throwing his four-seam 59% of the time. Even that was a bit of a decrease from previous weeks.

Nelson seemed to be looking to confuse hitters and keep them off his fastball early on, but was punished when he turned to his secondary pitches. Nelson gave up two solo home runs, one of which came on the fastball, and the other on a cutter.

Nelson gave up seven batted balls hit harder than 100 MPH. Three such batted balls came on his fastball, while the other four came on secondary pitches. The difficult reality is that only one went for an out. Two were homers, three were singles and one was a double.

The right-hander gave up eight total hits in his seven innings, and also allowed two walks. Though two free passes is not necessarily a red flag, it's also somewhat uncharacteristic for such a zone-living strike-thrower like Nelson. He hadn't given up more than one walk since May 2.

But it wasn't because Nelson struggled to throw strikes. In fact, he landed 63 of his 88 pitches for strikes, which was nearly identical to his 88-64 count one start ago. The Giants were simply able to check off on the balls, setting up hard contact with his in-zone pitches at a higher rate.

The encouraging part of Ryne Nelson's start vs Giants

May 13, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Ryne Nelson (19) pitches against the Texas Rangers during the third inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Ultimately, despite the eight hits, it was a solid-enough start in terms of results. Arizona's loss Tuesday night would have been handed to Nelson in technicality without Ketel Marte's ninth-inning home run, but not nearly as a result of a truly bad or blowup outing.

Tuesday night does, however, imply that Nelson is capable of adjusting when his fastball isn't offering him his best results. Living so heavily on the fastball is a fine strategy when the pitch is working well.

Though his secondaries were also hit somewhat hard, it was still encouraging that Nelson, clearly not fooling batters at his usual clip, was able to make that type of mid-game adjustment and deliver seven quality innings. If that's one of Nelson's less positive starts, that is a start the Diamondbacks will be happy to take.