Diamondbacks 1, Marlins 3: Offense missing!

The last time I recapped was for Merrill Kelly's injury to be determined on April 21st. Slade Cecconi started and earned a 5-3 win for the Diamondbacks against the Giants. I was certainly hoping that Sunday's winning streak would continue today. The TBD was not the result of an injury. Walston, for now, fills the space left by Cecconi's return to Reno. He pitched solidly and was removed with two outs in the fifth.

The key would be for Walston to keep all of his emotions in check during his first start. He did a decent job of doing just that. At one point, they showed him eating a snack in the dugout while his father was being interviewed. He seemed quite relaxed to me. He only went 4 2/3 innings, but I thought he still had a pretty solid first outing. He got into some trouble in the fifth after stepping on Fortes and suffering a shattered leg, putting it up for two.

After Newman made a great play that saved a point (above), he downed the man at second. With a man on third and two outs, Torey brought in Martinez. I was hoping Torey would leave Walston aside and let him try to get out of trouble. This flipped Bell onto his dominant left side, striking. Walston was only 65 pitches in, but his outing was over. Martinez got Bell to hit a weak fly to short center that ended the inning. Walston's exit was overall very encouraging, and I certainly think he deserved a fresh start. Here's your recap.

An eleven-pitch first pitch for Walston was beaten by a five-pitch bottom inning for Weathers.

Walston hit Rivera and got his first base runner, in the second, after having Burger grounded out. Chisholm singled and Anderson struck out a changeup. Brujan went to Walker for the third out. Walston finished the second with 26 pitches, 17 of which were strikes, or 65% hitting. No exit velocity of 91 mph in his late second.

Walker, Grichuk and Moreno made a deuce three in 16 shots to end the second. So far, Weathers has also induced weak contact. Marte's flight to center was hit the hardest so far, at 95 mph.

Fortes spoke to Suarez, who made a nice catch off the screen. Myers flew weakly to the right and De La Cruz landed a hard shot up the middle, with an exit velocity of nearly 109 mph. The hardest hit bullet at that time. Bell ended the Marlins' third with a strikeout to Alexander at second. Walston was at an acceptable 40 pitches after three innings.

Suarez struck out and Alexander singled up the middle. Newman struck out and Marte grounded out too short to end the third. Weathers sat on 36 pitches, 24 for strikes, 67% hitting. It was a bit of a pitcher's duel after three hours.

Burger struck out on a high four-run. Rivera flew out to Carroll and Chisholm hit a double just over the Marlins bullpen. The threat ended with Anderson grounding to Newman, who threw first. Walston was at 49 pitches, 37 for strikes, 76% hitting, after four.

Carroll drew Weathers' first walk, to start the Diamondbacks' fourth. Carroll took second on a Gurriel groundout to first. Carroll then caused a pitch clock violation for Weathers, with plenty of activity in the second. Weathers regained his composure and Walker struck again. He got Grichuk to ground out, blocking Carroll at second. Weathers had thrown 51 pitches, 32 strikes, 63% hitting. The pitcher duel continues.

Brujan flies to the left with weaker contact. Fortes walked, then Myers picked Walston's leg. Fortunately, his exit velocity was only 81.9 mph. Walston shook it off and put De La Cruz in a force takedown, with great play from Newman kicking out Nyers at second. With two outs, Torey relieved Walston, who had just 65 pitches, 46 strikes, 71 percent hitting. Martinez got the call and the switch hitting Bell moved to the left. Bell hits better from the left, and it had me scratching my head, but Martinez induced a weak fly to short center, with an exit velocity of just 82.7 mph, to finish in the top of the fifth.

Moreno grounded out on the mound and Suarez lined a single to center. Alexander hit on a low sweeper. Newman singled to short, and we had men on first and second with two outs. Marte lined out at second on a first outside pitch change, finishing the fifth.

Martinez returned for the sixth, after throwing just six pitches in the fifth. He walked Burger on four straight balls. I hope this was a hijack attempt. He got RIvera and Chisholm out, and Andersen fielded too short to end the Marlins' sixth.

Carroll struck out on just three pitches, one foul and two swinging strikes. Gurriel grounded out too short and Walker hit a two-out single to left. Grichuk was Weathers' seventh out to end the sixth.

Ginkel took over for the seventh and started doing Kevin Ginkel things. After striking out Brujan, he gave up back-to-back singles to Forte and Sanchez. De La Cruz had a fielder's pick, with Newman throwing an error to Alexander at second. That allowed Fortes to score from second on a ball that never left the infield. Bell was removed. Ginkel threw a wild pitch to Burger who headed toward the wall, moving both runners forward. Of course, Ginkel then gave up a single to Burger, scoring Sanchez and De La Cruz. Rivera failed against Walker who threw to Ginkel for the third out, but the damage was already done. Marlins 3, Diamondbacks 0. Ginkeled again!

Cronin came out to pitch for the Marlins, and Moreno singled to short. Suarez flew to the right. Alexander struck out and Newman flew out to right to end the seventh.

Hughes got the call for the eighth. Chisholm flew to the left and Anderson punched the ball away. A backfoot slider was just a little high and hit Brujan on the lower right leg. Fortes was grounded out to end the top of the eighth.

Faucher replaced Cronin for the Marlins. Marte struck out his swing to start the bottom of the eighth. Carroll hit a triple (above) on a ball that De La Cruz fumbled on, and it got away from him. Gurriel ended up on the ground, wait for it, on the first pitch. Carroll scored from third and we had a point. Walker hit on a very low curveball that he whiffed on. Marlins 3, Diamondbacks 1.

Jarvis got the nod for the top of the ninth. Sanchez singled, then De La Cruz singled to right. Bell was removed. Burger hit a fielder's choice on the eleventh pitch he saw. Sanchez was trying to score. Rivera flew away. The Diamondbacks were down to three outs. Marlins 3, Diamondbacks 1.

Only Grichuk, Moreno, Suarez remained. Grichuk moved to third on a 99 mph throw from Scott. Moreno was too short. Suarez struck out swinging a low slider to end the game.

Walston's exit was overall very encouraging, and I certainly think he deserved a fresh start. We had six good innings from Walston and Martinez. They kept the Diamondbacks in the game. Then Kevin Ginkel joined in the festivities and suddenly it was three against nothing, Marlins. There was a throwing error from Newman in Ginkel's inning, but he had two men on the line. Newman had already saved a run, just before Walston went out. Goat hero just like that.

The offense took the day off today. We had a chance in the fifth inning, with two in and two out. Marte lined up, and that was it. We had a few individual baserunners later, but nothing came from any of them. Carroll tripled over Chisholm and scored on a ground out by Gurriel. That was all they could manage today. The Diamondbacks pitching showed for the most part today, the offense was MIA. Captain Miller won't be looking for them. Hopefully the offense will return for the World Series rematch.

Bells and whistles, by Jim

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Fury Road: Blake Walston, +21.7%
Mad Max 2: Justin Martinez, +14.3%
Beyond Thunderdome: Kevin Ginkel, -37.1%
Mad Max (dubbed version): Grichuk, -14.2%; Marte, -13.4%

Well, maybe I would have had more fun watching A star is born, and yeah. I'll leave it at that, except to thank Snake_Bitten for his efforts in an unfortunately losing cause. Game Commentary to MrRBI17, for the well-deserved praise of our starting pitcher:

The Diamondbacks travel to Texas tomorrow. They will face the Rangers starting Tuesday night, with Brandon Pfaadt on the mound. First pitch is at 5:05 p.m.