Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Corbin Burnes was not pleased to have to miss a start earlier in the week, but it seemed to pay off on Saturday night, May 10 – and, to hear him explain it, it might continue to pay dividends down the road.
Burnes dominated the Los Angeles Dodgers in his best start with his new team, firing seven scoreless innings in a 3-0 win at Chase Field, leading the Diamondbacks to a much-needed bounce-back from their miserable loss the night before.
Burnes said the shoulder fatigue that had bothered him during his past few starts was nonexistent against the Dodgers, likely a result of both the rest from skipping a start and the cortisone injection he received earlier in the week. He said he was “pretty confident” the issue is behind him.
But perhaps just as important was what he said about his cutter, the pitch most responsible for his dominant career. He said the downtime between starts allowed him and pitching coach Brian Kaplan to hone in on some mechanical tweaks aimed at refining the cutter – and he seemed more than satisfied with the results.
“It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been able to say it felt like that,” Burnes said. “I think that was kind of a good sign.”
Eugenio Suarez blasted his team-leading 12th homer, a solo shot in the sixth. Corbin Carroll (triple), Ketel Marte (double) and Pavin Smith (double) added extra-base hits to help account for the Diamondbacks’ other two runs. And right-hander Ryne Nelson worked a tidy final two innings to pick up his second career save.
It added up to a crisp win for a Diamondbacks team that endured a brutal loss the night before, when they rallied from a five-run deficit before blowing a three-run lead in the ninth to lose, 14-11.
“I was really proud of how the guys kind of cycled through what happened last night,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “As frustrating as it was, they came out here focused and ready to play.”
It helped that they had vintage Corbin Burnes on the mound. Burnes gave up just five hits – all singles – while walking two and striking out five. His velocity was up almost across the board, including with his cutter, which averaged 94.9 mph, up from its previous 93.9 mph average.
Earlier in the week, Burnes revealed that his right shoulder had begun fatiguing just beyond the midway point of his outings, which he said helped explain his inability to remain sharp through the fifth and sixth innings. But this start against the Dodgers was different.
“The fact that we were able to get to 90-something pitches tonight and didn’t feel it,” he said, “is a good sign.”
Burnes said the consistency of his cutter and the amount of movement he was getting with the pitch could be traced to work he and Kaplan were able to do over the past nine days. He was asked what makes a good cutter so good.
“The break of it, just the amount of cut,” he said. “What the numbers are telling you, kind of what your eyes are telling you, what the hitter is telling you. We saw a couple things tonight that were positive signs that we really hadn’t seen in a couple years.
“Just a lot of stuff, mechanical stuff, to get to that point of kind of being free and loose and letting it go. It was pretty good.”
Burnes seemed to have an idea this sort of outing might be in the offing. Earlier in the week, when talking with Lovullo about their expectations for a pitch count, he seemed to hint at that confidence.
“What he told me was, ‘If the engine is running real smooth, just get out of my way,’” Lovullo said. “He said that a couple of days ago. And he said it to Kap, as well.”
Asked about that remark, Burnes half smirked and tilted his head. He seemed to be saying: Well, yeah.
“I think when you’ve got a guy on the mound that’s rolling you don’t want to take him out,” Burnes said.
The Dodgers hit a couple of balls hard in the first two innings but made almost no other loud contact off Burnes over his final five innings. He extricated himself from a first-and-second, one-out jam in the fourth by striking out Kike Hernandez and Michael Conforto to end the inning, then needed only five pitches to retire the side in the fifth.
The well-pitched game must have felt like a breath of fresh air for the Diamondbacks after their dismal performance the night before. It also must have felt reassuring to finally see the sort of dominant performance they had expected when they shelled out $210 million to land Burnes on a six-year deal in December.
Burnes had not pitched poorly, but he also had not been the sort of rotation anchor the Diamondbacks had envisioned.
“In my opinion,” Lovullo said, “the rest did him right.”
—Nick Piecoro
Walk Shohei Ohtani before big home run? It was considered
Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said on Saturday, May 10, that the thought did cross his mind to intentionally walk Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani in the ninth inning the night before, but he ultimately decided that move didn’t add up, not with another star, Mookie Betts, waiting on deck.
Ohtani blasted the go-ahead three-run homer off reliever Ryan Thompson, pushing the Dodgers to a 14-11 win.
“At that point, at first and second, you’re loading the bases and you’re bringing up a really, really good hitter that is going to take that personal,” Lovullo said. “It’s hard to do. It’s hard to do.
“(Ohtani is) very, very good. He’s a massive presence. But standing behind him is a 5-foot-9 hitter that is elite and it’s a very, very difficult circumstance to navigate. I know there are numbers that are spinning in my head, the percentages, it’s the go-ahead run at second base and now he’s at third base with less than two outs. It just didn’t make a lot of sense to me.”
Lovullo came back to the fact that Thompson had Ohtani in a 1-2 count but wound up throwing his third-best pitch, a splitter. Thompson mislocated the pitch and Ohtani crushed it.
“We threw a great first pitch slider that he swung at and I thought, ‘He might just put this ball on the ground,’” Lovullo said. “Then we made a mistake. We threw him a pitch that shouldn’t have been thrown. We all know that. We’ve got to be better.”
Justin Martinez, Kendall Graveman updates
Lovullo said right-hander Justin Martinez’s throwing sessions have been “sizzling,” an encouraging sign that the club’s flame-throwing reliever can rediscover the lost velocity that helped send him to the injured list earlier this month.
Lovullo intimated that a scheduled bullpen session for Martinez had been pushed back a day in part because the club is trying to make sure he doesn’t overdo it as he works his way back from the IL.
“I’ve heard it’s just been sizzling; it’s coming out hot – and (that’s) in a throwing program,” Lovullo said. “So he’s feeling really good about it. We’re with him, we’re guiding him and we’re trying to slow him down, which is a good thing. I think he’s going to throw the bullpen tomorrow.”
Martinez, who typically throws in the triple digits with his fastball, was down roughly 5 mph before being placed on the injured list with shoulder inflammation.
Meanwhile, right-hander Kendall Graveman threw an inning for Triple-A Reno on Friday night, retiring all three batters he faced with a strikeout. Graveman averaged 94.9 mph and topped out at 95.5 mph with his fastball.
“He’s checked a lot of boxes and he’s getting very close,” Lovullo said. “When that is exactly we’re not sure, but I want to see it through his eyes and I want to hear it through the medical team where they feel he’s at. We’re extremely close.”
Graveman, 34, a veteran of parts of nine seasons in the majors, missed all of last season following shoulder surgery. He impressed in a throwing session for scouts right around the start of spring training, prompting the Diamondbacks to sign him to a one-year, $1.35 million deal that includes a chance to earn up to an additional $1.95 million in performance bonuses.
But Graveman almost immediately developed a back issue during camp and has yet to appear in a game.
Joe Mantiply recalled, Cristian Mena optioned
The Diamondbacks made a roster move on Saturday, May 10, optioning right-hander Cristian Mena to Triple-A Reno and recalling lefty Joe Mantiply.
Mena was terrific in relief the night before, firing 3 2/3 innings without allow a run or a hit.
“We mentioned to him last night that this should be a catalyst for him to go down (to Reno) to continue fighting to be the next guy up when there is a need,” Lovullo said.
For Mantiply, it marks a return to the majors for one of the club’s longtime bullpen mainstays. Mantiply was brutal in the season’s opening weeks, giving up 13 runs in 7 1/3 innings before being optioned to Reno on April 19.
In six appearances with Reno, he has logged a 3.00 ERA, allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks while striking out six in six innings.
Mantiply arrives in the middle of a four-game set with the Dodgers, meaning he could get opportunities to face a pair of sluggers against whom he has had success. Shohei Ohtani is just 1 for 9 with three strikeouts against Mantiply while Freddie Freeman is 1 for 10 with two strikeouts.
“Joe deserved this moment, but I know he’s had some success against those guys, for sure,” Lovullo said. “I know he doesn’t back down from anybody. He’s going to go out there and attack. It’s nice to have him in here knowing he’s had that success.”
Coming up
Sunday, May 11: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (3-4, 4.37) vs. Dodgers RHP Tony Gonsolin (1-0, 4.09).
Monday, May 12: At San Francisco, 6:45 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (3-2, 4.09) vs. Giants RHP Justin Verlander (0-2, 4.50).
Tuesday, May 13: At San Francisco, 6:45 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (6-2, 3.28) vs. Giants LHP Robbie Ray (5-0, 2.84).
