Diamondbacks Enter Series vs Rays with Mounting Bullpen Questions

The Arizona Diamondbacks begin a six game homestand Tuesday night with the first of three games against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The D-backs are 13-9, and in fourth place in the NL West, three games back of the first place San Diego Padres. They're coming off a 4-2 road trip in which they swept the Miami Marlins, but dropped two of three to the Cubs, salvaging the series finale with a 3-2, extra-inning victory.

The Rays are 9-13, and in last place in the AL East, five games back of the Yankees. They struggled at "home" last week in Steinbrenner Field, getting swept by the Red Sox and dropping two of three to the Bronx Bombers.

Injuries

The Diamondbacks are still without the services of All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte, who has been out since April 5 with a hamstring strain. He is expected to miss at least another one to two weeks of games.

The D-backs just placed reliever A.J. Puk on the 15-day IL with elbow inflammation and await the results of an MRI on Monday. Already likely to miss at least several weeks, the possibility for a much worse diagnosis exists. Puk had Tommy John surgery in 2018, and has battled shoulder and triceps injuries in the past as well.

Justin Martinez was unavailable all weekend due to "arm fatigue," despite a moderate workload recently. Right-hand relievers Kevin Ginkel and Kendall Graveman are still working their way back slowly from the injured list and will not be ready for this series.

The Rays signed Gold Glove infielder Ha-Seong Kim during the offseason with the knowledge he would not be ready to play until sometime in May due to shoulder surgery last October.

Slugger Josh Lowe has played in just one game, and is out until mid-May with an Oblique injury. Richie Palacios (knee) and Johnny DeLuca (shoulder) are also on the injured list and won't play in this series.

Pitching Matchups

Tuesday, April 22, 6:40 p.m. MST

Zack Littell, RHP: 0-4, 5.48 ERA, 5.55 FIP in 23 IP. Littell was a hard luck loser on April 16 against the Red Sox, giving up just one run in six innings on a solo homer. He's had two excellent and two bad starts so far this year, inflating his ERA.

Brandon Pfaadt, RHP 3-1, 3.04 ERA, 5.02 FIP 23.2. In somewhat of a reversal of fortune for Pfaadt, in four starts his ERA is much lower than his peripherals suggest. Coming into the season he had a 5.06 ERA compared to 4.14 FIP.

Wednesday, April 23, 6:40 p.m. MST

Taj Bradley, RHP: 2-1, 5.24 ERA, 4.11 FIP in 22.1 IP. The third year, 24 year old righty is coming of a shellacking by the Yankees, giving up six runs on nine hits and four walks in 5.1 innings April 17. He's had two Quality Starts however, against the Braves and Rockies.

Eduardo Rodriguez, LHP: 1-2, 4.09 ERA, 2.40 FIP in 22 IP. Rodriguez has been continually bit by poor defense, and poor luck on batted balls, leading to extra baserunners and several unearned runs. But he's actually pitched extremely well, as evidenced by his FIP being 1.69 runs lower than his ERA. He has 29 strikeouts to just six walks and given up just two homers.

Thursday, April 24, 6:40 p.m. MST

Drew Rasmussen, RHP: 1-1, 0.87 ERA, 1.63 FIP in 20.2 IP. When healthy, Rasmussen is one of the best pitchers in all of MLB. He has a career 2.82 ERA and 2.92 FIP in 331 innings. He's healthy again. He went down with an elbow injury in 2023, requiring Tommy John Surgery, and came back in late 2024 with a reduced workload. He's all systems go and firing on all cylinders now.

Corbin Burnes, RHP: 0-1, 4.64 ERA, 5.42 FIP in 21.1 IP. Burnes has taken steps in the right direction with two straight Quality Starts. He has yet to regain his dominant form however, striking out just three batters in each of those starts. He's still searching for his trademark cutter effectiveness.

Who's Hot, Who's not?

First baseman Jonathan Aranda and centerfielder Kameron Misner have been the Rays best two hitters year to date. Boasting OPS of 1.116 and 1.064 respectively, they've provided plenty of production from the left side. Junior Caminero has five homers, but cooled off in the Yankees series, going 2-for-12 without an extra base hit.

Yandy Diaz, who won the batting title two years ago with a .330 average and hit .281 last year, is off to a .222 start with a .634 OPS.

Corbin Carroll had a 22 game on-base streak and 12 game hitting streak snapped on Sunday. He's batting .323/.394/.645, 1.039 OPS and leads MLB with 60 total bases. Pavin Smith is the NL batting leader with a .382 average to go along with a 1.176 OPS in 66 plate appearances. The platoon DH/first baseman actually falls three plate appearances short of qualifying however.

Eugenio Suarez was given Sunday off in the hopes that combined with Monday's off day, he would be able to "recharge." He broke out of the gates with five homers in the first five games of the season. Since then he's gone 7-for 59, .119 with one homer and 25 strikeouts. He's now batting .156 with a .690 OPS on the season.

Bullpens

The Rays have a team 3.35 reliever ERA and 3.21 FIP, ranking ninth and third respectively. Closer Pete Fairbanks has a 3.52 ERA and 2.90 FIP. He's three for three in save situations, but had a rough outing last time out against the Yankees April 19, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks, recording just two outs.

The D-backs' reliever ERA is 4.38, ranked 20th, but their 3.15 FIP is ranked seventh. The bullpen saw a big shakeup over the weekend. Other than Puk being placed on the IL, they demoted Joe Mantiply and Bryce Jarvis.

Drey Jameson and Juan Morillo were promoted along with J.P. Feyereisen. Jameson and Morillo both throw high 90's fastballs and can top out at 100. Jameson picked up the save on Sunday in his first major league action since 2023.

Shelby Miller (0 runs in 10 innings) and lefty Jalen Beeks (1 run in 13 innings) have borne a heavy load and been near perfect. Beeks is the lone lefty in the pen at the moment. That notwithstanding, Torey Lovullo will need to ease up on their usage this series or risk wearing them down.

Of greatest importance, the D-backs will be holding their breath until Justin Martinez can pitch again. He has yet to allow a run in eight games, seven innings pitched, while walking just one and striking out 10. But the arm fatigue issue that came up on Sunday is concerning, considering his workload since April 8th consists of just three games and 36 pitches thrown in a five day stretch from April 13-17.

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