First “house money” game of the year
I was surprised to hear that this is the first time the D-backs have won a series in Yankee Stadium, but it’s certainly true. Part of that is because there haven’t been that many series to begin with. There were only two in the first fifteen years of the franchise, that being back in the time when the schedule was unbalanced. The first time Arizona visited New York was actually for those three games in the 2001 World Series, and they didn’t exactly go very well. Of the first eight regular season contests in Yankee Stadium, the D-backs managed to win just one, a famous 9-5 win with Byung-Hyun Kim notching a six-out save, then throwing the ball over the outfield wall.
But including the playoff games, that means the D-backs were 1-10 there through April 17, 2013. They won one game that year, and one in each of the return trips in 2017 and 2023. So, yeah: this is uncharted territory, with the possibility of a road sweep against the reigning American League pennant winners. The team has certainly been efficient so far, scoring a total of eleven runs on only eight hits across the two games. The Arizona offense has scored more runs than they have got hits, in back-to-back games, for only the third time in franchise history – previously April 26-27, 2022 and also May 28-29, 2018. The fourteen walks taken by the D-backs are certainly a significant factor there.
The resulting 12.3% walk rate is the highest in the majors to date, and basically a third more than the average across all baseball (9.2%). It also has helped lead to a K:BB ratio of 1.41, which is also the lowest in the majors. [Meanwhile, if you want to know why the Rockies are struggling, their K:BB is a hefty 6.44!] One other area where the D-backs are doing well is staying away from infield flies. Only 6% of their flyballs have been on the infield, the lowest rate of any team, and less than half of the average (15%). Now, obviously, some of these may well turn out to be small sample-size mirages, and will regress to the mean. However, It’s an encouraging sign that the offense may still be capable of carrying the team.