Putting On A Brave Face

Dbacks V Braves Series Recap

Following a series loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in which the last 2 were extra inning heartbreakers, the Diamondbacks welcomed the Atlanta Braves into town for a 3 game set where they looked to get back to their winning ways as this marked the start of a tough schedule ahead of them for the next month.

Key Takeaways from this series

The Milk-Man Brought A Whole Gallen of Disappointment

The crew began this series recap by going over what was all around a very disappointing game from both the offense and the pitching side of things. Zac Gallen was once again struggling mightily early on as he needed 60 Pitches to get through 2 innings and allowed 3 ER in the second inning. Outside of his start in New York against the Yankees and the one at home against the Milwaukee Brewers where he allowed a combined 2 ER across 12.2 IP, he has not looked like his usual self in his other 4 outings

• 5.57 ERA – Career worst
• 4.18 BB/9 – Career worst
• 24.5% K% – Career worst
• 14.0 K-BB% – Career worst
• 1.39 WHIP – Career worst
• 10.9 Barrel% – Career worst
• Final 16 games in 2024: 4.27 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 4.1 BB/9

These numbers had the fellas discussing whether or not this is just a rough patch for Gallen, or if it’s time to start worrying about the teams ace of the staff.

Dead Offense

While the Dbacks hot and cold offense has been a topic over the last week, Chris Sale and the rest of the Braves pitching staff did more than enough to silence the Snakes bats all night as the team was 7-34 as a whole and went 3-9 with runners in scoring position as they just couldn’t seem to get much going, and when they did they couldn’t get the big hit to drive in the ducks on the pond. The fellas discussed what the offensive struggles in clutch situations could be attributed to and why it seems to have been happening so frequently as of late.

It’s Tax(ing) Season For The Bullpen

After looking like this group of arms could possibly be the best DBacks bullpen that we have seen in the desert, 4 extra inning affairs out of their last 6 combined with some shaky outings from the starting staff meant that the bullpen would be taxed more in this one week than it possibly has so far in the early going of the season. One of the more usually reliable pen arms in Ryan Thompson has been struggling for a good while dating back to July 1st, 2024.

• Ryan Thompson: 4.78 ERA from 7-1-2024 to the end of the season (34 Games and 32 IP). 1.41 WHIP and .320 BABIP
• 5.06 ERA in 10 Games in 2025

These struggles from the Dbacks submariner and others in the bullpen had the fellas questioning if they got a bit ahead of themselves in thinking this bullpen was deeper than previously thought, or if it was more due to the amount of innings they had to eat up with all the extra inning games and short starts.

Welcome to In-N-Out, Would You Like A 4 for 4?

Eugenio Suarez’ struggles have been very well talked about as of late with him being a tough watch at the plate and in the field, plus the D’Backs Top Prospect Jordan Lawlar tearing it up in Reno made it an even tougher watch. Heading into Saturdays game, Geno was slashing .167/.279/.411 with a .690 OPS and a 90 wRC+, but after a 4 HR game (the first one to do so since J.D. Martinez in 2017) Geno’s slash jumped up to .202/.306/.564 for a .869 OPS and a 134 wRC+. While it was another heartbreaking loss in extras (the 3rd this week alone, sheesh) the crew discussed just how cool it was to see this historic performance from someone who was in need of a slump buster.

The God-Pfaadt-er

While Brandon Pfaadt wasn’t able to get through a full 7 innings, he was still able to go 6 while only allowing 2 earned runs. This was his 5th outing of his 6 starts in which he was able to go 6 innings and now sees his ERA on the season sitting at a career low of 2.78. While one of the fellas has been a true Pfaadt believer since day 1 (Pfaadt Nation…arise), the crew discussed if this start to the 2025 in which Brandon has been the most consistent starter out of the 5 was a surprise to any of them and if this is yet another Hazen masterclass of an extension.

Welcome to J…Hurt?

After not being available in last Sunday’s extra inning win in the Windy City due to “fatigue”, Justin Martinez came out for the close in Sundays game 3 finale and had a noticeable decrease in his velocity as his 100+ MPH sinker was sitting just a few ticks slower at 97/98 MPH. After the game Torey Lovullo said that he was seeing the same number that the rest of us saw and was concerned just like us all, but he isn’t signaling the alarm bells yet as he said they have “got to figure out if there is an issue, which I don’t think there is, and then continue to build up possible dead arm, which every pitcher goes through at some point during the year” (Via Jack Sommers article on SI).

This development had the crew discussing their own worry level for the very noticeable decrease in velocity from Justin Martinez and if it’s some sign of us being cursed to not have enjoyable things as Arizona Sports Fans.

Reinforcements Are Coming

There was some positive news on the return of Ketel Marte and Kendall Graveman as Marte is reported to join the team again in Philadelphia and Graveman to go to Reno soon for a rehab assignment. This news of a return for the D-Backs All-Star second baseman and reinforcements for the bullpen in Graveman had the fellas breathing a sigh of relief as they hope this would bring back more consistency to both the offense and the bullpen.