Diamondbacks starting pitching has been an issue, Brewers take rubber match

Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitching has been in rough shape lately, and that continued with an eight-run outing from Michael Soroka in Thursday’s 13-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Starting pitchers set the tone for most games, and the Diamondbacks (16-14) were down 6-0 after three innings on Thursday and 8-1 after four.

The Brewers (16-14) won the series with two blowout victories, as catcher James McCann embarrassingly had to toss eephus pitches for the second time in three games.

Over the Diamondbacks’ last nine games, their starting pitchers have allowed more runs (42) than innings pitched (35.1), and the bullpen has logged more innings than the rotation (43.2). That has led to Arizona’s 3-6 record in that span after the club started the year 13-8.

Before this nine-game stretch, Arizona starters had a 3.40 ERA collectively, ninth best in the league.

Getting through the first inning was a grind during the three-game series in Milwaukee, as D-backs starters needed 25, 28 and 35 pitches just to get the first three outs of the game, respectively.

Soroka, Eduardo Rodriguez and Merrill Kelly combined for 11 walks in the series, and two first-inning walks for Soroka on Thursday quickly bit him in a three-run frame. The right-hander, who entered the game with a 2.60 ERA, recorded only nine outs.

The Diamondbacks have not received a six-inning outing in nearly two weeks. Kelly and Ryne Nelson are coming off back-to-back duds, while Soroka had his least effective start of the year on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Brewers lost starter Brandon Woodruff in the second inning, as his velocity was significantly down, but their bullpen held the D-backs to one run in 7.2 frames.

The schedule does not get any easier for the Diamondbacks’ arms, as they face the Chicago Cubs (19-12) at Wrigley Field this weekend. Chicago has the third-highest scoring offense this year.

In a bit of positive news, Zac Gallen is scheduled to make his next start on Friday after getting hit by a comebacker on Saturday.

Did Ildemaro Vargas keep his hitting streak alive?

At least Ildemaro Vargas finished Thursday with two of Arizona’s hits, extending his hitting streak to 26 games, dating back to last year.

That tied Paul Goldschmidt for the second longest in club history.

Brewers’ William Contreras is one of the biggest Diamondback killers

In the history of the Diamondbacks, there have been 1,308 players with at least 30 plate appearances against Arizona.

Nobody on that list has a higher batting average than Brewers catcher William Contreras, who went 4-for-4 with a home run, a double and four RBIs on Thursday.

Contreras is batting .430 in his career against the D-backs with eight home runs and 26 RBIs in 25 games.

Brewers play brand of baseball Diamondbacks aspire to

Playing the Brewers can be an introspective experience for the Diamondbacks, a team that seeks to develop many of the traits that makes Milwaukee successful.

The Brewers have a banged-up lineup that is bottom four in slugging and doesn’t hit the ball particularly hard.

And yet, Milwaukee sports a top-six scoring offense because it maximizes its opportunities.

The Brewers lead the league in steals, bunts and walks and they have the most hits with runners in scoring position.

They took it to an extreme on Tuesday, with bunt singles, grounders through holes and bloop hits. They paper-cutted D-backs reliever Andrew Hoffmann back to the minor leagues. On Thursday, Milwaukee went 4-for-16 with RISP. That’s a lot of traffic, as the Brewers had 41 at-bats with RISP during the series compared to Arizona’s 13.

And they did it without Christian Yelich or Jackson Chourio.

“If I do look at this team, I think they are very similar to us,” manager Torey Lovullo told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo after Tuesday’s game. “They’ve got some very good players that complement one another and they play a certain style of baseball and I love that. It’s picking up the baseball defensively, it’s about having a knowledge about what that at-bat is asking for, if you’ve got to bunt you’re gonna do it, advance runners.

“So as we were getting undressed in that inning, more of my blood started to boil because we train to do the things that we did not do, and that’s slow the game down, toughen up, make a play, make a pitch, get back in the dugout, get together, figure out how to score some runs.”

The D-backs have exhibited similar traits this year in terms of scoring baserunners.

Arizona has not been the same threat on the bases despite their speed, although it has more power than Milwaukee.

Grinding out at-bats and working more walks are areas the Diamondbacks want to improve offensively, although pitching is the biggest difference between the two clubs.

The Brewers are one of the top strike-throwing teams in the league, keeping walks down and with the most strikeouts per nine innings in the National League.

Walks have started to pile up on Diamondbacks pitchers of late, which is a point of emphasis for the coaching staff.

Next game

The D-backs and Cubs meet at Wrigley Field at 11:20 a.m. MST on Friday morning.

Catch the game on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app. 

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