GAME 4 WAS DISGUSTING
After leaving the series against the Rockies in Coors Field with a win, and avoiding an embarrassing series sweep on Wednesday afternoon, the Diamondbacks came into the American Family Field to face the now NL Central Champions in the Milwaukee Brewers, who were still fighting for the chance at a first round by come the playoffs, so this would be no cake walk by any means.
Game 1 on Thursday would see Brandon Pfaadt take the ball for the first time since his worst career outing, which came against these very Brewers just a week ago. This time however, Brandon knew the assignment and delivered arguably the best outing of his young career with 7 stellar innings of 1 run ball, all while striking out a career high 12 on 21 whiffs, 14 of them coming on his fastball alone.
This outstanding bounce back outing from Pfaadt had me asking the fellas if him being more aggressive with his locations (his fastball in this game for example) is the key for him having more games like this, or if that is what typically gets him in trouble with the long ball.
“Brandon Pfaadt I mean he was electric in this game, he was pinpoint accurate. He was hitting all his spots…I do think that he needs to be more aggressive, I don’t think that’s what got him in trouble. What gets him in trouble was just the fact that he would leave those fastballs straight down the middle…“ – Gabe
“I’m kind of on the same page as Gabe, I don’t think it was him not being aggressive, it’s when he leaves his fastball center cut or his sweeper, it sweeps right into the middle of the zone…for me the thing that was the most impressive in this was his pitch mix…it definitely kept the Brewer hitters off guard…like you said Big Game Brandon was all ready to go…“ – Brandon
After a performance like that, it would be hard for Zac Gallen to top Pfaadt’s outing in his Game 2 performance, but the Diamondbacks did answer back from the 3 HR, 4 R he surrendered in the the 5th, but Lourdes Gurriel Jr would get the Answerbacks on the phone with his first HR since returning from the IL. Lourdes’ return, along with Gabriel Moreno’s return just a few games prior, had me asking the crew if this team is a true World Series contender at full strength, or if there are still some possible concerns they might have about this team’s chances at a deep run like we saw then almost fully pull off in 2023
“…Most of these games, if not all of them, the Brewers starters didn’t make it past the 5th for the most part…this team is incredibly patient and they can give you some really really long st bats that make you work like crazy. My main issue is always going to be not just the homeruns, we’re kind of a broken record at this point, it’s the fact that they score very early in bunches and don’t score again…you have to be able to put teams away…I think for the most part they would be a title contender, it’s just always going to be that issue, how reliable is that pitching because Zac Gallen that first inning, he has to get that under control…“ – Gabe
“It’s weird to say but the offense doesn’t worry me at all. With this team pretty much at full strength, not counting what happened [Sunday], I think no lead of us being behind is out of reach…this team will only go as far as our starting pitching. Gallen has got to stop the 20-25+ 1st because when you do that, it’s almost impossible to make it to the 6th…I think because of that we saw the consequences of that in [Sundays] game. Because these guys are not going deep, so by the end of the series the bullpen is just gassed…” Brandon
Game 3’s affair on Saturday would prove to be over after the first inning, where a Joc Pederson 2 run HR into the Right Center bleachers was all that Merrill Kelly and the Diamondbacks bullpen would need. Merrill did unfortunately have to once again leave with right calf cramping (get this man some bananas, electrolyte or something cause this is getting ridiculous). Thankfully for Merrill and the rest of us, the Diamondbacks bullpen would pick up where he left off, retiring the final 20 Brewer hitters after Sal Frelick’s single in the 3rd, with A.J. Puk continues to not give a single A.J. F*** as he dominates the 9th once again in this series.
”Overall pretty dominant effort by the pitching, they blanked this team, they let them [get] just 2 hits that was it the whole game. 2 hits, not a lot of hard contact, they were pretty dominant so that was a great thing to see. Obviously the issue is going to be Merrill again…like what are you drinking? Is it just water? Do you need electrolytes? Do you need bananas?…they gotta do something like now because we cant keep having these guys fall like flies…you were talking about a 95-100 win team with the way it was constructed, but instead were fighting for the 3rd playoff spot just because of the injuries…” – Gabe
”Merrill was the mainstay, this was his bast start by far. He was cruising, he was dominant. I do wanna say that Jody Jackson did say on the broadcast that it was hotter on the field than it was at Chase Field, so again it may not be him not being hydrated, it could just be bad luck. It truly could just be that Merrill has bad luck lately and that sometimes it’s just a little bit too humid…Merrill was on track to go 7 easy and have no issues, luckily Joe Mantiply realized he can strike guys out, that was interesting, but my big thing on this was the fact that Merrill was the pitcher that we needed. If we get that Merrill, and he doesn’t have any sort of cramping issues, it’s gonna be huge…” – Brandon
The winning streak would look like it was going to be extended in Game 4 and reach 5 games, as a 7 run 2nd inning would have the Dbacks up 8 and in great shape for a 4 game sweep. What happened next was…yeah…it was something that’s for sure…
The Snakes bullpen would end up allowing 7 runs (6 ER) in just 3.2 IP, as they would allow the Brewers to tie and eventually take the lead over the DBacks in the 8th inning. This heartbreaking loss, that was actually the worst blown lead in franchise history, had me asking the fellas if this soured the taste of this series win over a divisional winner, and whether or not this raises the concern level for them heading into the final 6 games here at Chase Field.
”Uh yeah it did, like I hate the fact that it did just cause I wanna be happy about taking 3 out of 4. If this was a 5-4 loss it would be a little bit different, I’d be like ‘Alright it was what it was, we took 3 out of 4’ but the fact that they had an 8 run lead, and then they just wen’t into autopilot, especially the offense. They didn’t score until the 8th. That was 5 innings that they didn’t score a single run. That’s bad…the Brewers won the division for a reason, they are a good team, but man you can’t do that…it’s just frustrating man, I wanted to scream so bad when they lost like you can’t be serious…” – Gabe
”Had we lost game 1 and then Won the last 3, nobody would care, it’s ‘what have you done for me lateIy’…I think remaining schedule wise, I like our chances. I think our chances are better…For me if we do what were supposed to against the Giants, so at minimum take 2 of 3…we just need to be 2 games better than the Braves at this point because I dont think we can hold the Mets back, and to be honest I’d rather get that 3rd Wild Card spot and play the Brewers than get that #2 spot and play San Diego…” – Brandon
After wrapping up the show with a small teaser discussion about the recent Chase Field news (special live episode the same night this comes out so come hang out in the live chat!), we did a short preview of the upcoming pitching matchups against the San Francisco Giants, along with what our thoughts, hopes or even predictions are for the first of 2 final home series of the 2024 regular season here at Chase Field.
”…Logan Webb is one to keep your eye in terms of potential losses…overall score early, score throughout the games…the starters go 6 innings, like at this point in the season don’t go 4, don’t go 5, go 6, go 7 so that way we have the bullpen rested for the Padres serie and then as well hopefully for the playoffs” – Gabe
”I think 2 of 3 is very doable…I feel like ERod, each start gets better and better and better so if he can take what he did in his last start, and we continue it in, we take Game 1 easily. Game 2, if Pfaadt can limit giving up runs cause that’s the thing with Logan Webb is he get no run support so if we can keep them to like 2 or 3 runs i feel pretty confident that we can take Game 2 because I think this team is going to be very angry about what happened today…I would like a sweep cause then i feel like we just gotta take 1 from San Diego and I feel betetr about that, taking 2 from San Diego, oof a little more tough…” – Brandon
The fellas and I felt that we couldn’t end the show without acknowledging the passing of one of Arizona Sports legends in Al McCoy, who was the voice of the Phoenix Suns for 51 years, and talking about how Al was an integral part to the lives of any sports fan living in the Valley.
“This was, this was gut wrenching. Al McCoy is the voice of Arizona Sports in my opinion. Nothing against Schulte, like I think Schulte is great, but Phoenix is a basketball town. When the Suns are doing well the entire Valley rallies around it, and who was the voice of the Suns since 1972? It was Al McCoy, and I wanna give a shoutout to Chris Garagiola for his little nod towards Al McCoy on the Jose Herrera home run, he said ‘Shazam!’ and I thought that was amazing…[McCoy] also did the Diamondbacks from ‘98 to 2001…it’s still weird like when I would listen to Suns games last year and it wasn’t Al, like it just felt weird…anyone that you probably know of that’s probably a big sportscaster that grew up in this area, I can bet you Al McCoy was a huge influence on them…he also did radio for the Sun Devils so he’s touched so much here in the Valley…” – Brandon
“I’ve always been an avid radio listener just in general, I love the radio…I got a radio at the dollar store I think on like the 4th of July or something when I was 6 years old, that’s one of my earliest memories…I started listening to the radio then and once the Suns season started I just started to listen to the radio and listening to Al McCoy…Being able to hear Al in the fall and winter time like it was some of my favorite memories…at that time there was no internet, I couldn’t go and see the box score or anything. I had to find out what happened either through the newspaper the next day or I would have to listen to the radio so my whole childhood is Greg and Al…still to this day, every time i turn on the radio to listen to a Suns game while I’m driving, I still think in my head it’s gonna be Al McCoy and it’s not…it’s not the same, they just had a certain sound to them, and older school sound to them, and it just sucks…when stuff like this happens you’re just like oh yeah thats kind of it. Now all that we have are just archives and things we can just listen to…” – Gabe