First inning fiasco dooms Diamondbacks against Yankees

Eduardo Rodriguez 's struggles in the first inning had been a matter of record, even before tonight. He came in with a first-inning ERA of 6.60, and facing nine batters over the course of a 45-pitch first inning was no help in that area. He was getting ahead of batters, but proved almost clinically unable to put them away. Instead, the Yankees kept on reaching base. A walk to some Goldschmidt guy. A single. Two more walks. Another single. By the time Rodriguez recorded his first out, it was with his 32nd pitch of the inning. There was still time for a wild pitch and two-RBI single, before Eduardo finished striking out the side. Can't be many innings involving five runs and three strikeouts.

Fast forward to the sixth inning, and E-Rod was somehow still out there. He had staunched the bleeding, but allowed a pair of solo home-runs. One in the third, and one in the sixth, finally ending his night. The line: seven runs, all earned, in 5.1 innings, on five hits and four walks, with five strikeouts. It was the ninth time this year a Diamondback has been charged with seven or more earned runs in an outing, the most for the team since 2016. First time since June 20th though, when somehow we had two pitchers ( Zac Gallen and Yilber Diaz) do it in the same game. But the D-backs ' rotation has struggled in September. They are now 1-6 in fifteen starts, with an ERA of 4.80.

After a brief cameo by Taylor Clarke in the sixth, we got to see Zac Gallen make his first appearance out of the bullpen, since the opening three appearances of his professional career, back in 2016 for the rookie league Cardinals. He wasn't helped by his defense, with errors by Nolan Arenado and Pavin Smith . Though, to be fair, the latter E could probably have gone to Gallen. He seemed surprised to discover that, if you run over to cover first, somebody might throw the ball to you. He ended up allowing two runs, one unearned, over three innings, on two hits and two walks with two K's. So our most expensive mop-up guy since Jordan Montgomery did at least save the bullpen.