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After poor start, Diamondbacks' defense is proving itself again
Diamondbacks starting pitcher Ryne Nelson tossed 7 2/3 innings in the Diamondbacks’ 4-2 win over the San Francisco Giants on Monday night. It was one of the best starts of his career.
For as good as he was, Nelson could not seem to say enough about his teammates after the game.
“I felt like the fastball command and the slider really showed itself tonight,” Nelson said of his outing. “And also just the defense. The defense was incredible.
“I’ve never been a part of anything like that.”
Nelson delivered just what the Diamondbacks needed. He allowed all but one member of a heavily taxed Diamondbacks bullpen to take the night off. He also became the only D-backs starter this year to get an out in the eighth inning.
But also, the defense.
As a team, the Diamondbacks made upward of six noteworthy defensive plays in Monday’s win.
For manager Torey Lovullo, the most crucial one came in the top of the ninth inning, when first baseman Christian Walker turned a high throw from third baseman Eugenio Suárez into an out with a well-timed leap and a midair tag on Giants slugger Jorge Soler. Soler was originally deemed safe, but the call was overturned on replay.
Walker credited the first-base bag with helping him go so high in the air. “It’s a little bit of a trampoline,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
Shortly after Walker’s inning-ending play, pinch hitter Pavin Smith sent Diamondbacks fans home happy with a moonshot walk-off homer to center field in the bottom half of the inning.
Shortstop Blaze Alexander said after the game that Walker’s leaping tag gave the Diamondbacks the momentum they needed to finish the job.
“Once we saw it on the replay,” Alexander said, “we were all lined up walking off the field. We were just screaming and yelling. We heard our fans behind us. It was awesome.”
Alexander made a highlight-reel play of his own in the fourth inning, ranging so far to his left with a diving snag that second baseman Ketel Marte had to leap over him to avoid a collision.
“Took a chance, took a dive at it and, out of the corner of my eye, I see Ketel jump over me,” Alexander said of the play. “I thought, this is going to be way sicker than it already looks.”
Top-notch defensive plays, of course, are not foreign to the Diamondbacks. The team has graded out as one of the top five or so defenses in the league over each of the past two years. Early this season, however, they looked like a much different team.
Three weeks into the season, the Diamondbacks averaged the fourth-most errors per game in the majors. In that span, they had four separate losses in which the number of unearned runs they allowed equaled or exceeded the number of runs by which they lost.
Of course, not all defensive mistakes show up as errors in the box score.
On April 5 against the Atlanta Braves, Alexander and outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. miscommunicated on what appeared to be a catchable flare off the bat of Braves outfielder Jarred Kelenic. It was scored a double, and it allowed Atlanta to crawl back from a 5-2 deficit in the ninth and win the game in the 10th.
On April 15, Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno lost track of a wild pitch with two outs in the top of the ninth against the Chicago Cubs, allowing Nico Hoerner to score from second base and tie the game at two. The Cubs went on to win that one in extras.
Over the first several weeks of the season, it felt like any time their defense was a topic of discussion, it was because it contributed to a loss. Monday night’s highlight-reel performance underscored the reality that the Diamondbacks’ defense has very much returned to form.
In addition to the aforementioned plays by Walker and Alexander, Monday’s win over the Giants featured a pair of impressive plays by Gurriel in left field, a run-saving sliding play by Jake McCarthy in right and a nice running grab on a no-man’s-land popup in short right field by Marte.
Following Monday’s game — which added 3 outs above average to the Diamondbacks’ season total by itself — the Diamondbacks enter play on Tuesday with 18 OAA as a team, the highest mark in baseball. The team also has the fifth-fewest errors in baseball, with just 26 in 60 games played.
By OAA, the Diamondbacks have three of the 20 best defenders in baseball, with Walker and Marte both leading the NL at their respective positions with 7 OAA each, and Gurriel turning in an impressive 5 OAA in left.
For Walker, it was only going to be a matter of time before the Diamondbacks’ defense would rebound from its early-season struggles.
“It’s a long season for a reason,” Walker said. “I think if you take any two-week span, you’re gonna find a good trend or a bad trend one way or the other. So, I think it’s just part of the game, not reacting when stuff like that happens. That’s our job here is to keep the ship steady and keep going.”
Lovullo called Monday’s game the team’s best defensive performance of the year. Lovullo has often preached great defense as a key aspect of the Diamondbacks’ identity.
“It’s how we do it here,” Lovullo said. “We walk on the field, and we’re prepared to make plays.”
While the Diamondbacks have gotten quality defense from a variety of contributors in recent weeks, arguably no one has made bigger strides on that side of the ball than rookie Blaze Alexander.
Diamondbacks’ Blaze Alexander gaining confidence
When Alexander made the team out of spring training, there were seemingly more questions about his offense than his defense. Alexander had long been viewed as a strong defender at shortstop, particularly because of his monstrous throwing arm. The reality for Alexander early in the year was quite different.
In his first 10 major-league games, Alexander hit .345/.424/.552. He also made three errors in just 44 innings played in the field.
Before long, Lovullo opted to start veteran Kevin Newman at shortstop in place of the injured Geraldo Perdomo, with Alexander relegated to the DH role, or just the bench.
Alexander has made significant strides since then, having started on Saturday, Sunday and Monday at three different defensive positions — third base, second base and shortstop — with good results.
“I know I had some mishaps early,” Alexander said, “but I wouldn’t be on this team if I couldn’t play defense. They trust me at third, short and second. I’m doing my job, and I’m starting making plays.”
Alexander said he has worked extensively with Diamondbacks infield coach Tony Perezchica behind the scenes, particularly on glove presentation. He also feels that he has begun to put less pressure on himself.
“I think I was speeding up the game,” he said. “I was going at the ball 100 miles an hour, obviously trying to make a play. I’m not trying to miss the ball or any of that. But yeah, it’s just all about slowing it down now. So, I think I got it slowed down. Confidence is there.”
Alexander’s offense has slipped in the past few weeks, with his season OPS now at .759. By OPS+, though, that still works out to 19 percent above league average.
With Perdomo (knee) set to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Reno on Wednesday, Lovullo will soon be faced with a difficult decision in the infield. He told reporters on Tuesday that he has already lost sleep over that decision.
Frankly, Alexander’s future in the majors is unclear. But for now, he is continuing to string together good at-bats, and he looks a lot more like the defender he was projected to be.
“You can see the athleticism. You can see why he is who he is,” Lovullo said. “He’s excelling. He’s been doing a really nice job.
“We’re winning games because of him. That’s the ultimate compliment.”
Top photo: Rick Scuteri/USA TODAY Sports
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