Diamondbacks infielder Josh Rojas makes pitching debut in loss
Trying to emulate one of his favorite pitchers, Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Josh Rojas shimmied and shook and altered his times to the plate. He dropped down sidearm. He changed speeds with the best of them, going from 70 mph offerings down to 37 mph lob balls.
Making his first big league pitching appearance in the ninth inning of the Diamondbacks’ 15-3 blowout loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night, Rojas said he was trying to do his best Johnny Cueto impression. But he also admitted that was not the case on one particular pitch.
“One of them, the long one, was actually because I was about to lose my balance and fall,” Rojas said. “It looked like the shimmy, but it was because I was going to lose my balance and fall.”
Rojas’ performance, both on the mound and in a postgame session with reporters, added levity to what was one of the Diamondbacks’ worst performances of the year. Their starter, Zach Davies, was clobbered. Their defense was sloppy. Their star player, Corbin Carroll, lost track of the number of outs, a mistake that permitted a run to score.
It was a brutal end to a six-game stretch that tied for the Diamondbacks’ longest win streak of the year.
“This was, for me, a total outlier,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’ve been playing good baseball. We’ve just got to digest it, throw it out and be ready tomorrow.”
Davies summed up his performance succinctly. He fell behind in counts, he said, adding that he gave up too hits and issued too many walks.
“Just a bad game,” he said.
Davies’ line says as much: three innings, six hits, six runs, four earned, three walks. He gave up a homer to the first batter he faced, Kyle Schwarber, the first blow in a four-run first inning.
Davies also did not get much help from his defense. Third baseman Emmanuel Rivera made a wild throw for an error. Center fielder Jake McCarthy got a bad read on a shallow pop off Bryce Harper’s bat that went for a hit. The Phillies ran wild on the bases, stealing four times in four tries.
Then there was Corbin’s misplay in the third. With runners on the corners and one out, he raced in to catch a shallow fly ball off Kody Clemens’ bat. He then turned his back to home plate, took a few steps to retrieve his hat, which had flown off in pursuit, and looked up and froze in shock as J.T. Realmuto raced home from third.
“Things happen every once in a while that you just can’t explain in this game,” Lovullo said. “We have very heady baseball players and Corbin is probably at the top of the class when it comes to paying attention and understanding what’s going on. He just lost track of the outs.”
After asking reliever Joe Mantiply to work three innings — a task Mantiply had to talk his way into completing during the eighth inning — Lovullo gave the ball to Rojas to start the top of the ninth.
For years, Rojas said, he had been close to making his first pitching appearance, but the situation never lined up for it to happen, not in the minors or the majors. Finally, it did. He tried to make it count.
“It was awesome,” Rojas said.
Though he said he wanted to “let it eat” a little more, he opted to “play it safe” because he did not get a chance to properly warm up between innings. He threw 15 pitches in his inning of work, giving up four runs on five hits. He did not walk a batter. He also did not strike anyone out.
“I was really upset, honestly,” Rojas said, his tone alternating between serious and sarcastic. “I didn’t want to give up a run. I was pretty upset that they were scoring runs. What’s my ERA now? 36.00? Terrible. That’s embarrassing.”
Rojas said he was mostly trying to lob pitches that caught the top of the strike zone on the way down, balls that might have appeared to be strikes based on where the catcher caught them but were actually above the zone and thus almost impossible to hit.
However, Rojas said home plate umpire Jerry Layne “didn’t fall for it.”
“I told Jerry, ‘That needs to be called a strike,’” Rojas said. “And he said, ‘Common sense said it was a strike but I’ve got to get it right.’ He knew those were actually crossing above.”
Rojas came away with regrets. He wished he had thrown a few balls harder. He wished he had mixed his pitches and arm angles more aggressively. He wanted to put up more zeros. But he also felt fortunate to get to do something he had long wanted to do.
“I think you’re going to run into those games every once in a while,” Rojas said. “Obviously, you never want to lose like that. It’s embarrassing. I mean, it’s embarrassing that we had a position guy on the mound today. But it was exciting that it was me.”
It also might have been the sort of mood-shifting moment that can help a team get over a brutal loss more quickly than normal.
“I don’t like pitching position players,” Lovullo said. “I’ve never liked waving the white flag and I think that’s what it means. But at times you need to do it.
“It gave us a little jumpstart. It’s 9:30 (p.m.) and we’re probably already starting to spit this one out with a little bit of a sense of humor after watching Ro.”
—Nick Piecoro
Corbin Carroll loses track of outs as D-Backs trail big
With one out in the top of the third inning Tuesday night, Phillies first baseman Kody Clemens flied out to left. It appeared, at first, to be a routine play — not nearly deep enough to score the runner from third.
That is, until Corbin Carroll forgot how many outs there were. Carroll lost his hat running in to make the catch. After securing the ball, he turned around — ball in glove — to retrieve his hat, seemingly thinking the inning was over. As Carroll turned around, though, J.T. Realmuto sprinted home from third, giving the Phillies their sixth run. They lead, 6-0, after three innings. Starter Zach Davies only made it through three, allowing six runs (four earned).
The play was an uncharacteristic mistake for Carroll, who is the leading candidate for the NL Rookie of the Year, a likely All-Star and entering the MVP conversation with a torrid month. But on Tuesday night, it was part of a sloppy start for the Diamondbacks. Emmanuel Rivera made a costly throwing error, Jake McCarthy misread a ball in center field and missed a sliding catch, catcher Carson Kelly has allowed four stolen bases and the Diamondbacks have struck out five times.
—Theo Mackie
Torey Lovullo avoids suspension after altercation with JT Realmuto
“I’m sure that’ll happen,” Lovullo said. “I’m prepared for that tomorrow.”
That prediction did not come to pass. Instead, Lovullo will face a fine from Major League Baseball.
The decision came down after a call between Lovullo and Michael Hill, who is the league’s Senior Vice President for On-Field Operations.
“I had a great conversation with Michael Hill,” Lovullo said. “We walked over, walked through what happened. I was able to give him my sight-lines, he gave me his perspective. And I certainly appreciated his willingness to listen to what I had to say, because in these situations, all you want to do is be heard. I think there was some sort of a compromise in understanding.”
Lovullo earned his ejection when he came out to home plate to defend Corbin Carroll after the rookie star was hit by a pitch for a second consecutive at-bat.
Lovullo exchanged words with home plate umpire Vic Carapazza and Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto. The incident, which Realmuto downplayed afterward as having “looked a little worse on video than what it actually was,” led to both benches clearing, although nothing more than words were exchanged between the teams.
Despite the ejection, Lovullo did not walk back his actions, either after the game or in Tuesday’s pre-game press conference.
“I stuck up for a player and I stuck up for the team because I felt like it was the right thing to do,” Lovullo said. “And I woke up today and I still feel the same way. I'm not coming off of that. But there's some long-term ramifications that take place and you look back and you're like, maybe that was a little bit awkward at that time. But I'll stand up for Corbin, and any player, every single day of the week.”
Lovullo joked that his mom texted him after the ejection, writing, “I saw what happened, goodness will prevail and you guys won the game and that's all I want to say to you, congratulations.”
“Which really meant,” Lovullo said, “if you put that through the word processor: ‘Tighten it up, don't ever do that again.’”
—Theo Mackie
Phillies at Diamondbacks, 6:40 p.m., Chase Field
Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (8-3, 2.92) vs. Phillies LHP Ranger Suarez (1-2, 4.70).Kelly gave up three runs in 6-1/3 innings against the Tigers in his most recent start, picking up the victory in the Diamondbacks’ 11-6 win. … Kelly did not face the Phillies in Philadelphia last month, but he has a 1.98 ERA in two starts against them in his career, both outings coming in 2019. … Opposing hitters own just a .129 average off Kelly’s change-up and a .171 average against his cutter. … Suarez gave up one run in six innings against the Dodgers on Friday in Los Angeles. … He was hit hard by the Diamondbacks in Philadelphia on May 24, giving up five runs in five innings, serving up a two-run homer to 3B Evan Longoria. … He averages 93.2 mph with his sinker while also mixing in curveballs, change-ups, four-seamers and cutters.
Coming up
Thursday: At Chase Field, 12:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson (3-3, 4.95) vs. Phillies RHP Aaron Nola (5-5, 4.60).Friday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (7-2, 3.09) vs. Guardians RHP Triston McKenzie (0-1, 4.50).Saturday: At Chase Field, 7:10 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Tommy Henry (3-1, 4.86) vs. Guardians RHP Shane Bieber (5-3, 3.29)
