Eduardo Rodriguez has solid outing, Diamondbacks sweep Guardians

It wasn’t spotless but Eduardo Rodriguez was able to keep things boring for his Arizona Diamondbacks debut Wednesday.

Rodriguez gave up three runs in 5.2 innings on four hits and two walks against the Cleveland Guardians in the second game of a doubleheader. After Arizona won the first 7-3, this one was a 5-3 victory for a series sweep.

Cleveland had only one plate appearance with runners in scoring position versus Rodriguez and it ended in a sac fly.

It was a great sign for how Rodriguez could contribute for the stretch run after he had missed the entire season up to this point due a shoulder injury sustained back in mid-March.

The first three innings couldn’t have gone much better, even if Cleveland’s David Fry clocked a solo homer off Rodriguez. That’s because the lefty only threw 27 pitches compared to 58 for Guardians starter Carlos Carrasco.

Brandon Pfaadt getting through 6.1 innings in the first affair gave Arizona some wiggle room in the bullpen for what would be a limited showing out of Rodriguez on a strict pitch count. Rodriguez only threw a total of 65 pitches. The D-backs would have the long relief of Slade Cecconi and called-up-27th-man Humberto Castellanos available, as well as the more trusted options of Kevin Ginkel, Justin Martinez and Ryan Thompson later on.

Rodriguez found his first obstacle in the fourth when a four-pitch, one-out walk to Josh Naylor was followed by a single to put runners on the corners. Naylor scored on a sac fly and then a groundout ended the inning without anything else building back up. Rodriguez tossed a 1-2-3 fifth before a Jose Ramirez solo shot in the sixth represented that third run off the left-hander.

The D-backs held a 4-3 lead when Rodriguez exited.

Josh Bell homered in his first two plate appearances for three total runs, his second multi-dinger game in five starts since joining the D-backs.

Rookie catcher Adrian Del Castillo made his MLB debut after he was called up from Triple-A when Gabriel Moreno was moved to the 10-day injured list earlier in the week. Del Castillo, who is particularly known for hitting doubles, has been raking for the Reno Aces, and he showed what he was all about right away with an RBI double in his first major league at-bat.

A lifetime of hard work all led to this moment. 👏

Adrian Del Castillo has his first @MLB hit and RBI! pic.twitter.com/Vj2Sbt6JLC

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) August 7, 2024

Randal Grichuk added another run on a homer in the seventh. Ginkel wrapped up the sixth and seventh without any more damage. Ryan Thompson, who sacrificed earned runs in all three of his outings since Paul Sewald lost the closer job, was demoted to the eighth inning. Thompson only faced three batters, recording two outs and leaving a runner on third before he was pulled.

With the All-Star Naylor coming up, The D-backs turned to lefty Joe Mantiply for the second straight time on the day in that type of situation. In Game 1, Naylor had runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and Mantiply forced a groundout in his only batter faced.

This time around, Mantiply struck Naylor out.

Justin Martinez got the save opportunity in the ninth. When Thompson blew the save on Monday and the game went to extras, Martinez completed an electric 10th for his first career save. Arizona chose to carry that momentum over to Wednesday.

Martinez was more eclectic than electric, missing his spots and showing his inexperience on a come-backer with one on and one out. The righty made a great play to stop the ball and bobbled it briefly, which based on everyday baseball timing made the clear decision to slowly take the guaranteed out at first. Martinez, however, seemed to change his mind at the last millisecond and tried to rifle one into second and threw it in the dirt. It would have been a close play anyway and he was lucky no runners were able to advance.

The 23-year-old wasn’t convincing the rest of the way but made Bo Naylor look foolish on a swing at a pitch way out of the zone for the second out and then had Daniel Schneemann in a 2-2 count before walking him on a wild pitch to load the bases. Martinez then struck out Lane Thomas on three pitches, earning a save that was a whole lot different than the last one but was worth the same as his first.

The D-backs are now 38-20 since June began and 14-4 since the All-Star break.

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