[jksander]

June 23, 2025: Mike Clevinger (5-3, 2.32 ERA, 54.1 IP, 50 K’s, 1.12 WHIP) pitched against Eduardo Rodriguez (6-4, 3.73 ERA, 91.2 IP, 80 K’s, 1.23 WHIP) in game one against the Diamondbacks. Ketel Marte hit a solo homer for the Diamondbacks in the top of the first, but in the bottom of the sixth Jorge Alfaro hit an RBI double to tie it up, and Starling Marte (no relation) hit an RBI single to drive in the go-ahead, putting us up 2-1. Pavin Smith hit a homer for Arizona in the top of the seventh to re-tie the game, and that’s when the wheels fell off. Eugenio Suarez hit a grand slam, and that was the last of the offense for either team as we got stomped 6-2 based off their superior power. Martin Perez blew the save, his third, and fell to 4-4 with a 5.64 ERA thanks to three hits and five earned runs without even getting an out. They outhit us 8-4, and every single one of their runs were scored off homers. Alfaro led the team with a hit, a run and an RBI, while Tauchman had a hit and two walks but got nowhere.

June 24, 2025: Noah Schultz (2-0, 2.37 ERA, 19.0 IP, 15 K’s, 0.68 WHIP) rose to #2 in the latest prospect rankings, making his fourth start of the season for us tonight against Arizona’s Corbin Burnes (5-6, 4.11 ERA, 96.1 IP, 94 K’s, 1.25 WHIP). Otto Lopez got us the lead in the bottom of the first thanks to a groundout by Chase Meidroth, and Schultz pitched five shutout innings before Craig Kimbrel came out to replace him at the start of the sixth inning, still leading by the one run. In the bottom of the sixth we had a repeat of the first inning, with Otto Lopez again scoring off a groundout by Meidroth, and then Miguel Vargas hit a three-run homer out of left field to expand our lead to 5-0! Justin Dunn came out in the seventh, getting two outs, and then Perez got us the rest of the way as we shut the Diamondbacks out to win 5-0. Our four pitchers combined for just six hits and three walks all game, with Schultz earning his third win with four hits, two walks and four strikeouts. He now has a 3-0 record and a 1.88 ERA, and we’re wishing we’d just gone ahead and called him up for opening day ... had we done so he would qualify for Prospect Promotion Incentives. We picked up eight hits ourselves, led by Vargas with his homer that batted in three ... that was his 12th of the season, as the 25-year-old finally is having his breakout season.

We picked up reliever Eduard Bazardo off waivers from the Seattle Mariners today, and we’ve optioned Justin Dunn back to the minors to make room for him. Bazardo has a 2-0 record this year with a 2.84 ERA through 25 appearances, striking out 38 batters in 31.2 innings’ work. His 1.11 WHIP and 0.8 total WAR made him an obvious pickup when he wound up on our radar, as the 29-year-old has great movement on his four pitches including a blistering curve. Guillen has him pencilled in to be our new closer, with Brandon Eisert stepping into a late innings setup role, with the ability to close out games as well when needed.

June 25, 2025: Ryan Weber (3-6, 4.12 ERA, 74.1 IP, 47 K’s, 1.29 WHIP) pitched against Merrill Kelly (3-5, 5.22 ERA, 69.0 IP, 64 K’s, 1.54 WHIP) in our final game of the series against Arizona. This one was a duel early, and we finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth with a solo leadoff homer by Joey Gallo, putting us ahead 1-0! Josh Naylor hit one in the top of the seventh to tie it up, and Jake McCarthy hit an RBI double in the top of the eighth to give them a 2-1 advantage. It all came down to the bottom of the ninth ... with one out, Dominic Fletcher pinch hit for Tauchman, hitting a groundball single that batted in Gallo as the tying run, at which point Otto Lopez walked it off with an RBI single that scored Austin Slater, giving us a come-from-behind 3-2 win to take the series! Eduard Bazardo, who arrived just hours ahead of the game’s start, pitched the final inning for us and got the win, with just a walk and a strikeout, and we outhit them 11-5, led by Lopez (two hits and an RBI) and Slater (two hits and a run scored).

We’re off tomorrow and will then host San Francisco for three, with our record now at 34-47.