Diamondbacks Make Surprise Pitching Change Saturday

The Arizona Diamondbacks have made a surprise pitching change for their game Saturday at Chase Field against the Cincinnati Reds. First pitch is 5:10 p.m. MST.

The original starter for the D-backs was right-hander Nabil Crismatt, who filled in as a spot starter on August 17. Crismatt threw five effective innings, needing just 61 pitches, and allowed just one run. Torey Lovullo said on Monday that Crismatt would get at least one more start.

Arizona Diamondbacks Announce Jalen Beeks as Saturday Starter

However the team advised that they are changing the starter to be left-hander Jalen Beeks. Beeks pitched in Friday night's thrilling walk-off victory, retiring the side in order on just nine pitches. Beeks has thrown 48.2 innings and posted a 4.07 ERA with a 4.00 FIP in 49 appearances.

Barring an unannounced injury to Crismatt, this is certainly an "opener" type situation. Beeks has not thrown more than two innings, or more than 35 pitches in any outing this year.

Having worked the night before, and taking into account warmup pitches in the bullpen and on the mound, it seems unlikely the D-backs will allow him to go more than one inning.

It should also be noted that Reds leadoff hitter TJ Friedl is a left-hand batter with significant platoon splits. He bats .277 with a .784 OPS against righties but just .241 with a .651 OPS against lefties.

The Reds typical No. 3 hitter Elly De La Cruz is a switch-hitter, but also shows a significant deficit against left-hand pitching. He bats just .234 with a .638 OPS versus southpaws compared to .292 with an .890 OPS against righties.

Add to this the fact that Crismatt is on a pitch count, and will be unlikely to surpass 65-70 pitches at most, and this move by Torey Lovullo makes perfect sense.

Having the right-hander Crismatt avoid the top of the Reds order should limit him to having to face those hitters no more than one, or perhaps two times, instead of three.

Left-hander Andrew Abbott, 8-3, 2.28 ERA is starting for the Reds. You can read a detailed pitching analysis breakdown at the link below.

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This is the first time in 2025 that Lovullo has deployed a short reliever as an opener. Long reliever Anthony DeSclafani made several starts of two-plus to three innings as he was getting stretched out. But the intention there was always to get through at least nine to 12 outs.

The D-backs famously deployed the opener several times during the 2023 Postseason, owing to the fact they only had three true starters to turn to at the time. Joe Mantiply started game four of the NLCS against the Phillies, in which the D-backs won 6-5.

The bullpen game backfired on the D-backs in game four of the World Series against the Rangers however.

Mantiply gave up a run in the first inning, followed by Miguel Castros, Kyle Nelson, and Luis Frias, who each gave up three more runs. The D-backs came under heavy criticism for the strategy at that time.

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