PHOENIX — Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo said he’d never seen anything like Saturday’s first inning against the Washington Nationals before. Manager Torey Lovullo didn’t think he’d ever see a start like that from a typically reliable Brandon Pfaadt.
And Pfaadt, after allowing eight earned runs without recording an out in Saturday’s 11-7 loss, took accountability by saying he’d do everything in his power to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“What happened today was unacceptable,” Pfaadt said.
The Diamondbacks trailed 10-0 before getting a chance to bat and 11-0 after the top of the second inning. While they certainly stumbled for a few innings in the wake of a first inning that simply does not happen in Major League Baseball, the D-backs began to claw back.
The D-backs nearly got the tying run up to bat in the eighth inning after a Randal Grichuk single, but Nationals left fielder James Wood threw out Pavin Smith at the plate.
Had Smith not been waved home by third base coach Shaun Larkin, the D-backs would have set up Alek Thomas with the bases loaded and one out while down four runs. Corbin Carroll was on deck. Instead, Thomas struck out to end the inning, the final gasp in the comeback attempt.
Arizona has lost four straight games at home to teams under .500, as this late-May spiral has dropped them to 27-31 after they were 26-22 less than two weeks ago.
“Nobody likes to lose, we hate losing,” Perdomo said. “This is baseball. We never expected we were gonna be like this, but I think at the end of the day, we’re gonna continue to play hard and not give up. … We still have a hundred-something games.”
“You fall down 10 runs before you even come in the dugout, that’s a lot to overcome,” Lovullo said. “When you’re down 11-0 in the bottom of the second inning, most teams will find a way to cruise to get through the game. But this team’s gritty and they showed me a lot today.”
What happened with Brandon Pfaadt in that first inning?
The first 11 Nationals batters of the game reached base, a rally started by Pfaadt hitting CJ Abrams with an 0-2 pitch. Pfaadt lasted only eight hitters, all of whom came home to score. No D-backs pitcher had surrendered eight runs without an out recorded before.
He allowed six hits with two hit-by-pitches. Pfaadt explained he tried to attack hitters using back-foot sliders with two strikes and yanked a couple that hit Abrams and Josh Bell.
“We knew they were gonna be aggressive coming out and we gameplanned for that,” Pfaadt explained. “We just didn’t execute pitches. It’s tough, but kind of have to flush it and move on and do everything in my power to not let that happen again.”
The Diamondbacks tied a National League record by allowing nine runs before retiring one batter, per Sarah Langs.
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“ Just some center-cut misses, yanked sliders, just real inconsistent with this stuff,” Lovullo said. “I don’t care if they’re left- or right-handed hitters, when he’s on and he’s throwing the ball where he wants to and dotting it up the way he typically can, he’s gonna have a lot of success.”
Diamondbacks’ bullpen gets stubborn
Scott McGough struggled to limit the damage in the first and second innings, but from there, Arizona’s bullpen stopped the Washington offense from continuing to embarrass them.
Jeff Brigham, Ryne Nelson, Kendall Graveman and Shelby Miller threw a combined eight innings with no earned runs, as Nelson was the standout with four shutout frames.
Nelson said he learned on Friday he would return to the bullpen, and after his two outstanding starts, the Diamondbacks have decided the bullpen is where he will best help the team with Eduardo Rodriguez potentially returning next week.
“You could probably let the situation get to you a little bit,” Nelson said of entering Saturday’s game down 11-0. “But I take pride every time I get the ball. No matter what the situation is, what the score is, I’m going out there to do my job no matter what it is. It definitely doesn’t always go your way, but I take a lot of pride whenever they give me the ball and try to just go out there and do my job.”
Diamondbacks attempt an impossible comeback
Nationals starter Michael Soroka did not give up a hit through 3.2 innings. Perdomo stopped the stalemate with a two-out single in the fourth, and Josh Naylor drove a two-run shot to right field. Naylor was initially listed as the first baseman but moved to designated hitter, as Lovullo said Naylor caught a bug that is going around the clubhouse.
Arizona built another inning in the fifth, working the bases loaded with two outs for Ketel Marte, who bounced out.
Then, the Diamondbacks put up five runs in the sixth inning, a rally started by a Naylor double and capped with a Grichuk home run to the bullpen in left field. Washington’s 99% win probability dropped down to 93%, still overwhelming but something to work with. That dream died in the eighth inning when Smith was thrown out at the plate.
The send by Larkin was a mistake in that situation, and Lovullo addressed that with him postgame.
“Nobody feels worse about it than Shaun Larkin,” Lovullo said. “I just got done explaining to him, I think there’s certain times where you gotta be aggressive with certain types of runners, and when you are four runs down, you gotta be a little bit more conservative and get points on the board with a 100% certainty. So he’s gonna learn from it. He’s still a young coach.”
The Diamondbacks managed seven runs on 10 hits despite 0-for-4 nights from Carroll and Marte plus the slow start.
Saturday also added to the Diamondbacks’ sorry 13-11 record when they score at least six runs in a game, an indictment of the pitching and defense.
The D-backs finished May with an 11-17 record, their worst winning percentage over a full month since July 2023 (8-16). The team’s ERA entering June is 4.88, which ranks 25th in MLB.
“It’s been pretty tough, and I think as tough as it’s been, this team doesn’t quit,” Nelson said. “We’re gonna come back here tomorrow, we’re gonna get our work in before the game, we’re gonna go out there and we’re gonna play the best version of baseball we can. It’s not always gonna go our way, but we’re gonna give it our best shot.”
Diamondbacks’ next game
The D-backs wrap up their homestand at 1:10 p.m. on Sunday. Corbin Burnes get the ball for Arizona with a chance to stop the bleeding and avoid a sweep against Washington left-hander Mitchell Parker.
Catch the game on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.
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