Snake Bytes, 4/7: Slotherhouse Five

And the most relevant of the seven deadly sins for that series is…

Recaps

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks fall by one run after Corbin Burnes struggles – Five innings, four runs and seven hits allowed, 89 pitches, two hit batters and four walks were enough to keep the Diamondbacks in the game, but it wasn’t the kind of performance typical of Burnes, a former Cy Young Award winner. “It wasn’t fun, that’s for sure. Just didn’t command the baseball,” Burnes said afterward. “Hurt myself by putting six guys on with the walks and hit-by-pitches, so it’s kind of amazing that we only gave up four… We labored with it the second half of the last outing and pretty much all of (Sunday), so gotta go back to the drawing board on that,” Burnes said. “You have stretches like this every year. …. The days you don’t have it, you’ve just got to try to bear down and get through it. Even if the cutter’s not there, you’ve got to do a better job.”

[Dbacks.com] Feel for cutter eludes Burnes as D-backs drop series – He didn’t have a feel for his cutter, the pitch that leads his arsenal and, when landing, is part of what makes him such a force to be reckoned with. “I thought the command was a little off early,” Lovullo said postgame. “He was missing spots. I think he was battling some frustration — I think we all are right now, that’s just the nature of the game.” “It sucks,” Burnes said. “You get the ball to go out and win the series, and you go out and pitch like that — it’s pretty poor. But [I’ve] got to get back to it.” It was the first time since July 19, 2024, that Burnes had walked at least four in a start, and — paired with his three-walk start against the Yankees on Tuesday — the first time since Aug. 5 and 11, 2022, that Burnes allowed a combined seven walks in back-to-back starts.

[SI] A Gloomy Day in D.C. Sinks Diamondbacks in 5-4 Loss – The offense struggled after the first hitter of the game. Corbin Carroll led the first inning off with a triple, which Geraldo Perdomo drove him home with a sacrifice fly. While they cobbled together nine hits, they were unable to link those hits together to put together a big inning like they’ve done so often. However, aside from a Jose Herrera solo home run with two outs in the second inning and a Pavin Smith RBI single in the fifth inning that drove home Herrera, the offense was just not there. It was the Herrera show on offense as he homered, singled, and had an RBI with two runs scored. It was a great outing by him as it was nice to see him experience some success after a tough start to the season. Perhaps, this portends a career year to come for him.

Team news

[West Linn Tidings] West Linn’s Tim Tawa debuts for the Arizona Diamondbacks – West Linn’s Tim Tawa has accomplished a lot in his young life. In high school, he was a football state champion, four-time Gatorade Player of the Year (three times in football and once in baseball), two-time Oregon Football Player of the Year, two-time MaxPreps All-American in football, Oregonian High School Athlete of the Year and MaxPreps Male Athlete of the Year… Tawa said that his early success – he lined a single up the middle off Nationals pitcher Mitchell Parker in his first plate appearance – helped him through the rest of his career-opening appearance. “I think (getting a hit in my first at-bat) helped me settle in for sure and just play the game,” Tawa said. “But at the same time, I was trying to take everything in and enjoy the moment as much as possible.”

[SI] Bring your Pups! Bark at the Park Returns to Chase Field – Fans will be able to bring their dogs to Chase Field on April 8 to watch the D-backs take on the Orioles. Tickets are available through a special ticket pack. Entrance to the ballpark for fans who are bringing dogs to the park will be exclusively limited to Gate K on the northeast side of the stadium. These special ticket holders will be able to check in at a table by the gate entrance where they will receive a voucher for a dog “swag bag” provided by the team.vSeating for fans and their furry friends will be located between sections 101 and 111 and all dogs must remain in this area.

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks finish trip in Washington, head home to meet AL heavyweight – Zac Gallen, who pitched four rather forgettable innings at Chase on Opening Day but rebounded in a big way at Yankee Stadium, is the scheduled starter for Arizona. Gallen staggered the Yankees through 6 2/3 shutout innings, striking out 13. Baltimore finished 2024 with 91 victories, second in the American League East to the Yankees, before falling to the Kansas City Royals in the wild-card round. The Orioles are set to send out Zach Eflin (1-1), who looked strong in his first start, a 12-2 victory in Toronto (six innings, two hits, two runs). Eflin followed that with a loss in Baltimore on April 2 against Boston, 3-0 (six innings, eight hits, three runs).

A good day for our affiliates, who combined to score 40 runs. But I’ll leave the details to Preston! Will just drop this highlight here:

And, elsewhere…

[ESPN] Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays agree on $500 million deal – First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays are in agreement on a 14-year, $500 million contract extension, pending physical, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday night. This is a monumental, no-deferral deal to keep the homegrown star in Toronto for the rest of his career… Guerrero, 26, a four-time All-Star and son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, had said he would not negotiate during the season after the sides failed to come to an agreement before he reported to spring training. The sides continued talking, however, and came together on a deal that is the third largest in Major League Baseball history, behind only Juan Soto’s 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets and Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million pact with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

[NY Times] A Q&A With Rob Manfred, M.L.B.’s Commissioner, on the Future of Baseball – Baseball tried out robot umpires during spring training. How do umpires feel? What did they tell you? I think that they were more receptive to using it on every pitch, because nobody knows what he would have called. The problem with the challenge system is it points out when you’re wrong. And I think nobody likes to be shown, in front of 48,000 people, they just missed the pitch… We’ve still got to deal with the players. They prefer the challenge system because it’s a smaller change and they generally prefer smaller changes. And there is an argument about how it affects the kind of players in the game. The argument that they make is if you have an automated strike zone, the framing catcher, he goes away. It’s like a lost art. It’s not necessary anymore. That ripples through the game.

[MLB Trade Rumors] Dodgers Place Blake Snell On 15-Day Injured List – Los Angeles signed Snell to a five-year, $182MM free agent deal. The contract is worth “only” around $160MM-$165MM in current value since $65MM of Snell’s salary is deferred, yet it still represented the big long-term payday that eluded Snell in his previous trip to free agency. The fact that Snell has already gone on the IL will bring some fresh questions about the Dodgers’ investment, yet there isn’t any indication that Snell’s shoulder inflammation is anything serious. It does leave the Dodgers in a bit of a tricky spot when it comes to filling Snell’s rotation spot, as Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki are both only being used once per week, replicating the standard usage of a Japanese pitching rotation. Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski, and Bobby Miller are the likeliest candidates to receive a Triple-A call-up and at least one spot start in Snell’s place.