Diamondbacks’ rotation quietly dominant early on
When Diamondbacks left-hander Madison Bumgarner exited his start on Sunday, the game was tied in the middle innings. That is to say, Bumgarner had more or less done what a starting pitcher aims to do: He gave his team a chance to win.
Through the first 16 games of the season, that sort of result has become a common sight for the Diamondbacks rotation. Overshadowed by either a porous defense or a nonexistent offense — or, on certain nights, by both — the Diamondbacks’ starters have been quietly dominant, regularly holding opposing lineups in check into the middle innings.
Bumgarner gave up one unearned run on Sunday, the 14th time in 16 games — and the ninth in a row — in which a Diamondbacks starter has allowed two runs or less.
Through Sunday, the rotation’s 2.36 ERA ranked second in the majors, trailing the Los Angeles Dodgers — the Diamondbacks’ opponent at Chase Field in a three-game series that began on Monday night — by just one one-hundredth of a point. It is the second-best ERA in club history after 16 games, trailing only the 2.24 ERA posted by the 2008 club, a staff led by Brandon Webb and Dan Haren.
“I would think it’s definitely fair to say we’re headed in the right direction,” Diamondbacks right-hander Zac Gallen said. “This is where I think we would have been last year outside of having a few injuries pop up at the wrong time.”
Right-hander Merrill Kelly entered his start on Monday night with the best numbers of the bunch, having allowed just one run in 15 1/3 innings. Gallen, who was delayed at first by an offseason shoulder issue then by a cut on this right thumb, has given up just one run in nine innings through two starts.
Bumgarner had logged 18 innings and allowed just two earned runs. Righthander Zach Davies had the worst numbers of the group — eight earned runs in 14 1/3 innings — but perhaps half of those runs could have been prevented had a handful of plays been made behind him.
Right-hander Humberto Castellanos has thrown well twice and left-hander Tyler Gilbert threw well in his lone start of the season.
The worst start of the year came by someone not only no longer in the rotation but no longer in the big leagues. Left-hander Caleb Smith started the fourth game of the season, giving up five runs (four earned) in one-plus innings. He was quickly demoted to the bullpen and after another shaky outing in relief he was sent to Triple-A Reno.
For Bumgarner to be four starts into his season without having pitched beyond the fifth inning would be cause for concern in most years. But Bumgarner has had some extenuating circumstances. First, his pitch count was limited by the short spring. Plus he has been dealing with a lingering illness, leaving him feeling fortunate not to have allowed an earned run in 10 innings in his past two outings.
“Oh, yeah, for sure,” Bumgarner said. “They both could have been a wreck.”
Bumgarner said he tested negative for COVID-19 multiple times but isn’t sure if just has had a bad cold or something more severe.
“But it’s lingering, for sure,” he said. “It’s the longest I’ve ever had something.”
Gallen’s results through two starts, both against a tough opponent in the New York Mets, provide reason for optimism. His fastball has averaged 94 mph and he has been getting good results on both his change-up and curveball.
“With everything I’ve been dealing with — the shoulder, the thumb — I’m pretty happy so far,” Gallen said. “I felt like the fastball and curveball were coming out really similar (on Friday) to years past when it was coming out pretty good.”
The Diamondbacks entered Monday averaging just 73 pitches per start, tied for the fifth-lowest in the majors, and were tied for the ninth-lowest in innings pitched per start at 4.5 innings.
Whether the results remain strong or not, those numbers figure to increase once the starters are fully stretched out.