Diamondbacks sweep Guardians in Eduardo Rodriguez’s season debut

Later in the 2nd, during his first at-bat in the major leagues, Adrian Del Castillo blasted a double off the tall wall in left field, driving in Eugenio Suarez and extending Arizona’s lead to two.

The Guardians got on the board with a David Fry solo shot in the bottom half of the inning, but Josh Bell struck again. Bell marked his second multi-homer game with the Diamondbacks, making it 4-1 with a 375-foot line drive shot in the 3rd inning.

Besides a pair of homers allowed, Rodriguez did not give up much hard contact in his first start since October 1st of last year. Two of the Guardians’ four hits off Rodriguez were home runs, with the other two being singles.

When Rodriguez exited, the Diamondbacks received a lights-out performance from a tired bullpen. Kevin Ginkel tossed 1.1 smooth innings, Ryne Thompson got a couple of outs on eight pitches, Joe Mantiply struck out the one batter he faced, and Justin Martinez closed the door in the 9th.

Although Martinez worked into some trouble by allowing a base hit, making a throwing error, and walking a man with two outs, he struck out Lane Thomas on three pitches with the bases loaded to secure the win.

From facing the American League’s best team to now the National League’s best, the Arizona Diamondbacks will return home for an NLCS rematch against the Phillies. Earlier this season, when Arizona played the Phillies in Philadelphia, the Phillies took two of three. However, things are different now, with the Phillies currently in their worst stretch all season, holding a 6-14 record over their last 20 games.

This series will start at 6:40 PM on Thursday.