PITCHER DUEL
Arizona held to three hits in road shutout
The D-Backs’ Taylor Widener and the Nationals’ Max Scherzer went toe-to-toe. Washington hit a walk-off home run to win Friday.
Kyle Schwarber’s ball vanished somewhere beyond the second deck, a mammoth home run that sent the
Diamondbacks to a loss on Friday night. Right fielder Kole Calhoun stood a few steps shy of the warning track, looking up and tracking the ball’s flight; he appeared to be about a football field away from it.
It was the latest disappointing visual from the opening weeks of the Diamondbacks’ season, but their 1-0 loss to the Washington Nationals might have more long-term value for another reason: The game provided the latest piece of evidence that the Diamondbacks might have something in right-hander Taylor Widener.
In the third start of his major league career, Widener held his own in a matchup against Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer. It would be hard to argue he outpitched Scherzer, but Widener did not look out of place, shutting down the Nationals over six strong innings.
Scherzer lasted an inning longer and offered more in the way of dominance, but Widener limited baserunners, limited hard contact and matched Scherzer zero for zero on the scoreboard.
“He went toe to toe with him,” manager Torey Lovullo said.
“It was pretty impressive.”
Three years ago, Widener was the club’s minor league pitcher of the year. The next year, in 2019, he allowed nearly a run per inning during a brutal season in Triple-A Reno. He worked to get himself in better shape and to rediscover his stuff, and he showed promise last season when he debuted in the majors as a reliever.
Widener was not expected to make the Diamondbacks’ rotation this season out of spring training. It took an injury to open a spot. He was not expected to remain in the rotation once Gallen returned. It took a struggling Caleb Smith for him to keep his spot.
But, so far, Widener also has made the club appear wise to continue giving him the ball every fifth day. Through 17 innings, he has posted a 1.59 ERA. He has pitched aggressively off his fastball and managed to keep hitters from squaring up his pitches with much consistency. He is on his way of becoming the latest unexpected rotation success story for this organization in recent years, following the likes of Zack Godley, Clay Buchholz and Alex Young.
“I’m trusting the work that I’ve put in the past few years,” Widener said. “After my 2019 season, it did not go how I wanted it to go. I feel like I’ve worked really hard and I keep building off everything that feels good. I keep getting more and more confidence. It’s a game where I feel like you have to stay relaxed and you can’t overthink anything. You’ve got to keep going out and pitching.”
Widener has impressed with his ability to keep innings from getting out of control. He does not appear bothered by baserunners, nor does he seem to let one bad pitch lead to another.
“He’s got a great heartbeat,” Lovullo said. “He’s able to really stay in the moment. We talk about that a lot here. Finding a way to win the moment and not having it speed up so fast that you can’t really execute.
“I love the way he steps up on the mound, takes a deep breath and says here we go, let’s do this. It’s me against you and we’ll find out who’s better. Those are the key moments that got him through a couple of sticky points today.”
Said Widener: “I feel like I’ve always been pretty good at putting things past me that happen that are bad. My dad used to tell me that Italian racecar driver, ‘What’s in the past is in the past.’”
On this night, Scherzer was a touch better — and the Nationals’ bullpen held firm, unlike the Diamondbacks. Scherzer struck out 10 in his seven innings, and relievers Daniel Hudson and Brad Hand each tossed scoreless innings. They limited the Diamondbacks to just three hits and two walks.
Reliever Alex Young was two outs away from sending the game to extras. But he fell behind, 2-1, against Schwarber before trying to get aggressive with a fastball. Schwarber destroyed the pitch, sending it an estimated 463 feet.
“We just made a mistake on that last batter,” Lovullo said. “That’s what happens. You make a one- or two-inch mistake and it could cost you.”