Luke Weaver goes scoreless vs. Marlins as D-backs snap losing streak

PHOENIX — The questions were certainly circulating through Chase Field ahead of pitcher Luke Weaver’s start Monday.

After allowing 17 runs over his last 17 innings and posting an 0-3 record, could Weaver get back on track or was he destined to fall out of the rotation following a difficult stretch of games?

But as skipper Torey Lovullo said pregame, Monday is a new day and Weaver attacked the outing with an aggressive mentality.

Allowing just four hits and striking out six batters over 6.1 innings of work, Weaver was a critical factor in ending the D-backs’ six-game losing skid in a 5-2 win over the Miami Marlins. The 75-pitch outing moves Weaver to 2-3 (seven games) and marks the second quality start for the pitcher in 2021.

“I think today was about Luke Weaver and how he went out there today and controlled the zone. I don’t think he had any three-ball counts, just was dominant for the 75 pitches that he threw,” Lovullo said after the win. “He set that tone and let us score some runs and gave us the ability to keep tacking on and keep building to our lead.

“It was real nice to see him have that outing. I know he’s been working for that. Great effort and great turnaround from the last outing.”

The pitcher appeared settled in from the start, needing just nine pitches to retire the side in the opening frame. The inning was capped off with a three-pitch strikeout (all fastballs over 94 mph) to right fielder Garrett Cooper.

The second inning wasn’t nearly as tidy, with Weaver’s pitch count jumping to 29 after allowing a double to start the frame, but still had the same result. The six-year veteran put an exclamation mark on the second with back-to-back strikeouts off of a 95-mph fastball and 87-mph changeup, respectively.

It also helped that D-backs outfielder David Peralta handed Weaver the lead after bringing home a run off of a ground out.

Weaver tightened things back up in the third and fourth innings.

Using back-to-back seven-pitch frames, Weaver strung together his best stretch of the evening, retiring all six batters he faced with four pitches or less.

The offense also did its job with a three-run third propelled by a two-run double from third baseman Asdrubal Cabrera. A passed ball by catcher Chad Wallach extended Arizona’s lead to 4-0.

“Offensively, I think we slugged a couple times with runners in scoring position and I’ve been specifically been talking about that,” Lovullo said. “It was Cabrera with the big double down the right field line. It was approach after approach, waiting for our pitch and driving the baseball.”

A Christian Walker double in the fifth pushed the game firmly out of reach. With five runs through five innings, Arizona surpassed their run total from their three-game series against the Marlins (four) earlier this month. It marked the first time since May 2 the D-backs scored at least five runs in a game.

“I felt like we did score the five runs, we could have scored some more. But look, after a grinding six-game losing streak, this is a great win,” Lovullo said. “The guys deserve to feel good about this one, they should. We gotta continue this thing moving in the right direction.”

While Weaver was dinged with a hit in the fifth, sixth and seventh, he navigated the rest of his outing with little issue. The starter did not allow more than two hits in an inning throughout the matchup.

It was night-and-day compared to his last outing five days ago against the Marlins in which he allowed six earned runs on six hits over 4.0 innings pitched.

“You gotta have your revenge, right?” Weaver said. “You gotta be motivated in a way where, ‘Yeah, you got me, but it’s never gonna happen again.’ That’s the mindset of, ‘Hey, you got to enjoy your day, now I’m going to enjoy mine.’ When we have a rubber match on the road, I expect to win that and that’s how we leave it.”

The shutout didn’t quite have the legs for a full nine innings, however.

After Taylor Clarke stepped in to relieve Weaver, Arizona turned to Joakim Soria in the eighth.

Soria quickly had a baserunner in scoring position after Jon Berti led things off with a triple. Three batters later, first baseman Jesus Aguilar would give Miami its lone runs of the game thanks to a two-run homer to left-center field. Soria allowed another single before getting Corey Dickerson to ground out of the inning.

Stefan Crichton was given the ball to close things out in the ninth. After striking out third baseman Brian Anderson to lead off the inning, Crichton got OF Lewis Brinson to ground out, setting up pinch-hitter Sandy Leon as the final out of the game. Unlike his counterparts, Leon put a good swing on the ball, sending a high flyball in the vicinity of the pool out in right-center field.

Providing the 6,307 in attendance with a highlight-reel snag to end the evening, OF Pavin Smith robbed a for-sure home run to seal Arizona’s 16th win of the season.

The D-backs will look to make it back-to-back wins in the second meeting of the four-game series with the Marlins on Tuesday at 6:40 p.m.

Tune to ESPN 620 AM for all the action.

Related

Diamondbacks end dramatic homestand with maddening series loss to RockiesBlue Jays claim Paul Sewald after he was DFA’d by DiamondbacksDiamondbacks need to jumpstart offense to salvage series win vs. RockiesGeraldo Perdomo out of Diamondbacks’ lineup Tuesday with knee issueDiamondbacks avoid post-Dodgers letdown, clobber Rockies in Soroka’s returnGeraldo Perdomo removed from Diamondbacks-Rockies game with knee soreness