Diamondbacks 2, Atlanta 1: Who Needs Bats?

Okay, so this was a strange one. As was noted in 1AZFan1’s recap of last night’s shutout loss , our offense has been completely AWOL for several days now. This is something we’ve seen happen plenty over the last several years, but these multi-day offensive outages get exponentially more concerning when, as I and others have expended a lot of words on already this year, our pitching staff, both in the rotation and in the bullpen, is very much constructed of chewing gum, baling wire, and whatever found objects Mike Hazen was able to salvage from the local bins on garbage night.

Having to rely primarily on our pitching does not fill me with confidence. Like, ever. And yet.

This game, like all baseball games (at least the ones where one or both teams are using the “opener” strategy and therefore deciding in advance that it’s going to be a bullpen game), is first and foremost a contest between two pitchers. This was not a game where any openers were used. Bryce Elder was starting for the Atlanta Braves; Michael Soroka was going for the Diamondbacks.

Usually, the team whose starter pitches the better game wins the baseball game. This is not always the case of course—the baseball gods are cruel and fickle and often whimsically malicious. But more often than not, that is the case.