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3 storylines from Diamondbacks' sweep of Colorado Rockies
After Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suárez saw Colorado Rockies reliever Riley Pint plunk two D-backs hitters in the sixth inning on Wednesday, he knew that he wanted to make him pay.
“I just wanted to send a message,” Suárez said. “We’re here to protect ourselves, and the best way is to hit a homer.”
Sure enough, with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, Suárez turned a 6-3 lead into a 10-3 lead with one swing of the bat. It was his first grand slam since May 24, 2018, when he was with the Cincinnati Reds.
Neither Suárez nor Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo felt that Pint was trying to hit anyone intentionally, but it was abundantly clear that Pint had little control over where the ball was going.
Pint, a first-round pick in 2016 who has never put it all together, has a history of shaky command. Entering Wednesday, he had a career walk rate of 7.6 per nine innings in 303.2 professional innings, with 43 hit batters. His appearance on Wednesday was just his fifth ever in the majors.
Fortunately, both of the Diamondbacks’ hit batsman in that sixth inning, Joc Pederson and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., stayed in the game and appeared to be fine. Suárez went 3-for-4 with that pivotal grand slam, two doubles and 5 RBI. The Diamondbacks won, 11-4.
“It was Geno’s day,” Lovullo said. “Really slugging the baseball, hit the big grand slam. Had that type of special day that you like before an off-day because you roll over in bed and think about it all night, you think about it 25 times tomorrow on the off-day and you just keep rolling right on through.
“He’s been a great hitter for us over the past month and a half.”
With the victory, the Diamondbacks secured their third sweep in the past five series played. They have won six straight games, 10 of their last 11 and 17 of their last 20. It has been 48 days since the Diamondbacks have lost a series.
After Wednesday’s game, Diamondbacks starter Jordan Montgomery — who was part of last year’s World Series winning Texas Rangers — was asked if he has ever been on a team that went on this kind of run.
“I don’t know,” Montgomery said. “I feel like we’re scoring 10 runs every night. It’s been a fun stretch. We’re playing really good baseball. I think all the pitchers are throwing the ball really well, and we’re just kind of focused on the next day.”
Of course, this Diamondbacks series sweep came against a less-than-stellar opponent in the Rockies, who are now 34 games below .500. Nonetheless, the Diamondbacks took care of business. Here are several storylines that stood out along the way.
1. The best week of Jake McCarthy’s career
Diamondbacks outfielder Jake McCarthy went 1-for-3 with a walk, hit-by-pitch and a run scored on Wednesday. By his standards lately, it felt like he had a bad game.
Consider McCarthy’s numbers since the start of the Phillies series (a seven-game span): 14-for-30, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1.367 OPS.
That 15 RBI figure is particularly astonishing. According to Sarah Langs, McCarthy is just the third player in Diamondbacks history — and the first is 25 years — to rack up that many RBI in a six-game span. The others are Steve Finley and Matt Williams, both of whom did it in 1999.
On Tuesday, McCarthy delivered his biggest hit of the year: a two-out, two-strike, two-run walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth that turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 Diamondbacks win.
With both Ketel Marte (left ankle sprain) and Gabriel Moreno (left adductor strain) out with injury, Lovullo recently moved McCarthy up to the No. 2 spot in the Diamondbacks’ lineup. McCarthy has delivered — by trying to be the same guy that he was before.
“I’m always trying to have good at-bats and get on base,” McCarthy said. “So, it’s like, why would I try harder? I’m always trying to do my best.
“I think I’ve hit pretty much everywhere in the order besides fourth in my career, so I’m used to it and I embrace it.”
After a down season last year in which he hit just .243/.318/.326, McCarthy is hitting .311/.383/.457 in 2024 with six homers, 40 RBI, 10 doubles, seven triples and 17 stolen bases.
Entering play on Wednesday, McCarthy was one of just seven hitters in baseball with 300 or more plate appearances and a batting average above .310.
2. Jordan Montgomery looking more like his old self
Montgomery turned in one of his better outings as a member of the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. In six innings, he allowed three runs on five hits, walking three with a season-high eight strikeouts. He also matched his career high with 22 swings-and-misses.
“Threw a lot of quality pitches,” Montgomery said, “and threw everything for strikes when I needed to. It was a good day. [Catcher Adrian Del Castillo] did incredible back there with his fingers and blocking, and had a lot of good plays in the infield.
“And when the guys are swinging like that, it gives you confidence.”
Granted, three runs over six innings against the Rockies is a solid, but hardly earth-shattering outcome. Based on wRC+, the Rockies had the third-worst offense in baseball entering play on Wednesday, ahead of only the Chicago White Sox and Miami Marlins.
However, Montgomery has been trending in a better direction lately. In his previous outing against the NL-East-leading Philadelphia Phillies, he was one out away from six scoreless innings. He wound up allowing three straight batters to reach with two outs, all of whom came around to score after reliever Dylan Floro entered the game. That is not to say that Floro takes sole responsibility for those runs, but Montgomery was better than his final line (5 2/3 innings, four earned runs) would lead you to believe.
Montgomery’s outing on Wednesday followed a similar course. He allowed only one run through five innings, but struggled to get out of the sixth. He wound up allowing two more runs, and he needed 30 pitches to get out of the jam. Unlike his last outing, he eventually did get that elusive final out.
Perhaps most notably, Montgomery’s sinker averaged a season-high 92.6 mph on Wednesday, up a full tick from his season average of 91.6 entering. Last year, Montgomery’s sinker averaged 93.3 mph.
“Just been putting some good work in,” Montgomery said of the velocity uptick, “starting to feel confident throwing the ball and knowing it’s going to go where it needs to, and using the whole body instead of just arm.”
Later in his postgame presser, Montgomery walked back comments that he made after his previous outing about how pitching at Chase Field is like pitching “in a jungle” with how humid it gets.
“I was just frustrated when I said that,” he said. “We’re in the desert, so just gotta get out there and maybe drink an extra water or something … Just frustrated being one pitch away from that outing going a different direction. But yeah, that’s not an issue.”
3. Alek Thomas sent down
Before Wednesday’s game, the Diamondbacks optioned outfielder Alek Thomas to Triple-A Reno and recalled infielder Blaze Alexander.
Lovullo said that the Diamondbacks wanted to get Thomas more regular playing time, a task that has become increasingly with how well McCarthy has played.
Thomas, of course, has struggled. After missing three months with a hamstring injury that occurred in the first week of the season, he slashed just .188/.253/.338 in 88 plate appearances.
Strikeouts were not an issue — Thomas had a healthy 15.9 percent strikeout rate in that span — but, as has been the case in the past, he struggled with hitting ground balls to the pull side. Of 442 major-league hitters with 50 or more batted balls this season, Thomas has the eighth-highest rate of pulled ground balls at 30.8 percent. (League average is 20.9 percent.)
Lovullo said that he would like to see Thomas change his approach.
“Staying back and using the entire field is something we feel very strongly about as an organization,” Lovullo said, “and [that’s] what Alek Thomas needs to do as well.”
Another factor in Wednesday’s roster move was a need for infield depth while second baseman Ketel Marte deals with a low-grade left ankle sprain. Marte is day-to-day.
Alexander made the Diamondbacks’ Opening Day roster and played 58 games before being sent down on July 2. In 175 plate appearances, he slashed .259/.328/.361 with three homers and 21 RBI.
After being demoted to Reno, the 25-year-old posted a subpar .675 OPS in July, but he turned things around in August. He had a .324/.390/.541 slash line this month prior to his call-up on Wednesday.
Alexander started Wednesday’s game at second base and went 0-for-4 with a walk in his return to the majors.
Top photo: Rick Scuteri/USA TODAY Sports
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