D-backs' Poor Pitching, Offense Thwarts Momentum in Toronto

The Arizona Diamondbacks dropped the series to the Toronto Blue Jays after falling 8-1 on Wednesday night. Eduardo Rodríguez labored heavily before the bullpen put the game out of reach.

Arizona Diamondbacks Poor Pitching Spells Defeat

Eduardo Rodríguez may not have been the main culprit of Wednesday's loss, but he put his team in an early hole. On just the second pitch of the game, Rodríguez served up a hittable pitch to Bo Bichette, who sent it deep to center for an early 1-0 lead.

Arizona's starter needed 20 pitches to escape the first inning, and that lack of efficiency would remain a theme throughout. Rodríguez threw a season-high 98 pitches, while only spanning 4.2 innings. He allowed six hits, three walks (one intentional) and punched out four, leading to two runs (only one earned).

The unearned run scored in the third inning. Rodríguez loaded the bases with one out, but appeared to be finding his way out of it. With two outs, however, Jose Herrera committed catcher's interference, sending an unearned run home and automatically putting George Springer at first.

Rodríguez would escape with a strikeout, but the fifth inning showed trouble again. Facing bases loaded (this time with no outs), Rodríguez managed two outs, but was lifted for right-hander Tayler Scott, who finished the inning with one pitch.

Scott would allow a walk, four hits and three earned runs the next inning, however, spotting the Blue Jays a 5-1 lead. Kevin Ginkel, who has struggled greatly in 2025, put the game effectively out of reach in the seventh with three earned runs of his own. Ginkel's ERA on the season is now 13.50.

It's hard to truly put the blame for Wednesday's loss on Rodríguez, but his inability to get quick outs did force manager Torey Lovullo to go to his shaky group of middle relievers early. Regardless, Arizona's overall night of pitching was not well-executed.

Arizona Diamondbacks' Offense Struggles

As poor a night as it was for the D-backs' pitchers, it wasn't much easier for Arizona's offense. The only major offensive highlight came in the form of a Corbin Carroll triple to lead off the sixth. He was brought home by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on an RBI groundout for the D-backs' only run of the night. At the time, that made it a 2-1 game.

But Arizona managed just six total base hits, four off the bat of Gurriel and the red-hot Josh Naylor. Each went 2-for-4 at the plate, as Naylor raised his season average to .306 in his home country.

Arizona's first baseman extended his hit streak to eight games — five of which have been multi-hit games. He's hit .469 in that streak.

Arizona Diamondbacks Manager Reaction

Manager Torey Lovullo discussed the loss with D-backs.TV's Todd Walsh postgame.

"We came here to win baseball games, have winning moments, and we need to be better at it," Lovullo said. "We need to play better, we need to pitch better, hit better, everything. And things can compound themselves, and that might have been icing on the cake."

"One run is not what we do. I'm looking for more of a team at-bat, more of a gear thing, where things line up and it's moving together. Today, it seemed like it was very fragmented. We need to do a better job of going nine-on-one, and that's one of our core beliefs here," Lovullo said.

Lovullo said that Carroll, who exited the game after being hit in the hand with a pitch, would continue to be evaluated. The manager said x-rays came back negative — a good sign — and called the injury a left hand contusion.

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