Brandon Pfaadt and a whole lot of zeroes carried the Diamondbacks to a 2-0 win over the Braves, and Arizona did it with the kind of night that makes every clean inning feel bigger than the last.
Pfaadt set the tone right away. His first inning was as sharp as it gets: two grounders with exit velocities under 75 mph, plus two strikeouts on pitches out of the zone. That was the version of Pfaadt Arizona wanted, and he kept the Braves from ever getting comfortable.
The defense had plenty to do with that, too. Ketel Marte was involved in a wild sequence in the first when Corbin was on third with one out.
Marte smoked a liner at 103 mph, but Atlanta’s shortstop made a diving catch to keep the runner at third. Later, Marte let Atlanta’s leadoff hitter reach on a grounder between second and first.
He got to the ball in shallow right, but dropped it while trying to throw on the run. The play was scored a single, though it probably could have gone as an error.
Marte later exited with knee pain, likely tied to that play.
Arizona’s bats were loud even when the box score didn’t fully show it. Through the first three innings, six of nine batted balls were classified as hard hit, and five of those came off the bat at more than 100 mph. The Diamondbacks were finding the barrel against Chris Sale early.
There were still some huge defensive moments to match the pitching. Nolan Arenado had a bobble on a grounder from Ronald Acuña in his second at-bat, but he recovered quickly, found the ball, and fired across the diamond to finish the play.
In left field, Ryan Waldschmidt made one of the best plays of the night, sprinting to the corner to run down a Matt Olson liner at full extension and keep it from turning into extra bases. The next hitter followed with a single that likely would have scored Olson.
Domo also looked much closer to his old self, picking up a double and a single. The double came on a liner hugging the third base line in the third, and the single in the sixth stayed tight to the first base line.
Arizona kept working the little things, too. Ildemaro reached on an infield single that rolled only 75 feet, then immediately stole second.
Tawa followed with a sacrifice bunt that wasn’t perfect but got the job done, moving the runner to third with less than two outs before a ball had even left the infield. Later, Geraldo Perdomo surprised everybody with a perfect bunt down the third-base line for a leadoff single in the eighth, stepping in with Arizona already 3-for-3 in the inning.
The Diamondbacks also had a chance to break through with runners in scoring position in the seventh, when Waldschmidt sent a shallow humpback liner to center with two outs. He gave Arizona a shot at its first hit with RISP, but Atlanta’s center fielder read it well and made the catch at knee level while sprinting in.
On the other side of the ball, Ildemaro made another standout play in the seventh, leaping to snare a Matt Olson liner and rob him of a hit. He got just enough glove on it to snow-cone the ball and showed the body control to hold on as his feet came back to the dirt.
A lighter GameDay Thread came with the earlier start time, with just 215 comments at the time of publishing. There was some rec rationing early, and Timmy Tawa’s late insurance run dinger helped open things up before kilnborn earned Comment of the Game.
The teams meet again tomorrow night for game two of the three-game set. First pitch is set for 4:15 p.m.
Arizona time and the game will be televised on FOX. Grant Holmes, who is 7-4 with a 3.47 ERA, is the probable starter for Atlanta, while Eduardo Rodriguez, 11-4 with a 2.70 ERA, is set to go for Arizona.
In Other News...
Ketel Martes Exit Leaves A Huge Question For Arizonas Playoff Push
Ketel Martes night against the Braves ended early, and for the Diamondbacks that is the kind of development that can change the feel of a stretch run in a hurry. Marte left in the second inning with left knee soreness, cutting short another look at one of Arizonas most important bats as the club keeps pushing through a crowded National League postseason race.
For a team trying to hang in the playoff chase, the concern goes beyond one missed game. Marte has been central to the offense, and Arizona is now waiting to learn whether the issue is something minor or the kind of injury that could linger into the most important part of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Brandon Pfaadt Is Giving The Diamondbacks A Huge October Boost
Brandon Pfaadts turnaround has become one of the most important developments in the Diamondbacks push for a National League Wild Card spot. Since returning from a demotion to Triple-A Reno, the right-hander has looked like a different pitcher, giving Arizona the kind of stability it badly needed on the mound during a stretch when every game has carried extra weight.
Since June 30, Pfaadt is 6-0 with a 1.32 ERA across eight starts, and he has put together back-to-back outings of seven scoreless innings. For a club trying to hold its footing in October, that kind of run does more than clean up the rotation - it changes how the Diamondbacks can map out the rest of the month. [Read more 🡒]
Corbin Carroll Just Added Another Reason For Dbacks Fans To Marvel
MLB Pipelines latest top-30 prospect rankings offered the usual midseason snapshot of where young talent stands across the league, but the bigger reminder for Diamondbacks fans came from a familiar name already in the majors. Corbin Carroll keeps stacking up reasons to view him as one of the most electric players in the game, and his latest milestone only adds to the sense that Arizona has a centerpiece worth building around.
Carrolls combination of power, speed and gap-to-gap damage has made him a rare threat in every phase of the game, and the pace at which he has reached those benchmarks is a sign of just how special his start has been. For a fan base used to tracking the next wave through prospect lists, Carroll is now the standard-bearer, and the numbers he continues to pile up are starting to put him in a class all his own. [Read more 🡒]