Patrick Corbin Struggles as Arizona Loses By One Run…Again
In a pattern that has become all too familiar to fans of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team struggled to overcome a narrow deficit on Saturday afternoon at Citi Field, falling to the New York Mets 4-3. Johan Santana picked up his first victory of the season by throwing seven solid innings, and Mike Nickeas and Andres Torres knocked in New York’s runs in the victory.
Meanwhile, Paul Goldschmidt laced an RBI double to bring the Diamondbacks to within one, but that and Ryan Roberts‘ second inning home run weren’t enough to close the gap as Arizona attempted to secure a winning East Coast road trip.
There were several key stories in this game, but it all starts with Patrick Corbin, who was starting just his second game in the big leagues. He struggled with his command early in the game, throwing 26 pitches in a second inning that didn’t see any runs cross the plate, but did ensure that his outing would be short. He ended up grooving a few pitches in the fourth inning, and despite throwing 83 pitches he was only able to obtain a total of 10 outs. He gave up five hits and four earned runs in a losing effort.
The real question now for the Diamondbacks is what to do with the youngster. Yes, growing pains can be fully expected from anyone, but with Wade Miley doing such an admirable job in filling in for the rotation spot vacated by Josh Collmenter (who looked pretty solid in relief this afternoon), is his spot in the rotation only valid so long as Daniel Hudson is on the shelf?
It often behooves a team to show patience with a young hurler, but they would be better served in this instance exercising that patience in his development by sending him back to the minor leagues for some more seasoning. The kid is only 20 years old and has got a long career ahead of him (knock on wood), so it doesn’t make sense to keep him in the Major League rotation ahead of a guy like Miley who is throwing the ball just about as well as Kirk Gibson could have hoped.
Corbin will have plenty of opportunities to make a dent at this level, but now doesn’t seem to be that time, so when Hudson comes back, Corbin should be demoted.
As for the rest of his teammates, they struggled yet again in a tight game. Despite winning 46 games last year in come-from-behind fashion en route to an NL West, title, the Diamondbacks have been routinely choking under pressure this year. They are now 4-10 in one run games this season, after just snapping a nine-game losing streak in such games with their victory yesterday in Flushing Meadows. If you exclude their three victories against the San Francisco Giants to begin the campaign, then the Diamondbacks have lost their last 10 of 11 one-run games, which isn’t exactly a huge boost to the confidence of fans as the team tries to repeat as division champions.
Part of the blame for this lack of success rightfully should go to the injuries that the team has sustained. Yes, Willie Bloomquist and John MacDonald are perfectly fine players, but they are no match for the offensive output that a guy like Stephen Drew can put out there on a daily basis. He just played in his first extended spring training game against an actual opponent, so he is on his way back to recovery. His emergence in the lineup will hopefully resolve some of the issues, but there are other players that can help too.
In addition to Hudson, who obviously is a far cry above either Miley or Corbin in terms of what he can bring to the mound every fifth day, you have arguably the team’s best hitter still on the shelf. Chris Young is still slowly making progress in his return from a shoulder injury that he sustained back in April, but before that he was absolutely ripping the cover off the ball, driving it to all fields and batting over .400 in the process.
Will the return of those key components to the lineup make them better in these close-game situations? Will the team work out of the seeming funk that they are in on their own thanks both to increased experience and dumb luck, which is always a component of any MLB season? The answers to both of those questions are likely yes, but they are going to have to prove it with their performance on the field.
For now though, the Diamondbacks need to focus on ensuring a successful road trip with a victory tomorrow, and they will have to do that against knuckleballer RA Dickey in the rubber match of this three game set. Trevor Cahill will toe the slab for Arizona, and the first pitch is scheduled for 10:10am MST.
Player of the Game: Ryan Roberts
Roberts got the scoring started in this game with his solo home run in the 2nd, but the real reason he gets this distinction today is because of his excellent approach overall at the plate. He ended up 2-for-3 with a walk as well, but the real key is that he made sure to wait for his pitch.
A quick look at his stats reveals that he is seeing 3.63 pitches per plate appearance this season, which is down from nearly a quarter of a pitch from last year. He does his best work when he is working counts and either getting pitches to hit or walking, so if he can continue to make strides toward getting back to being that kind of player, then he will see more and more playing time despite Cody Ransom itching for a spot in the lineup as well.
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Seems a bit early to make that decision. He has the rest of the month to prove himself before Hudson comes back.