Diamondbacks Fall to Yankees After Ryne Nelson's Disastrous Start

When the Diamondbacks have won games this season, they've had solid starting pitching to set the tone. That was not the case tonight against the Yankees, as right-hander Ryne Nelson struggled from the get-go. Nelson was tagged for five runs (four earned) in 2 2/3 innings in a 5-2 loss to the New York Yankees.

It was the same story as 2023 for the 26-year-old right-hander. The inability to land his pitches in the right spots haunted him, as he landed only 10 called strikes and only four swings and misses. The lack of swing-and-miss became a problem again for Nelson, who failed to finish off hitters in two-strike counts. Manager Torey Lovullo said that Nelson was "very reliant on the fastball" and the lack of command on the pitch failed to put the Yankees hitters in swing mode.

"I felt just a little out of rhythm, maybe a little amped up in the 1st, and just couldn't find a groove," said a frustrated Nelson. "I was falling behind guys and getting into hitter's counts, that's never a good recipe. Left some offspeed over the plate, they weren't really biting on the stuff I was trying to get them to chase. It's just tough when you're working from behind all the time, traffic on base, I just didn't put myself in good spots."

Beyond the early hole they dug themselves in, they were also facing a starter who was close to the top of his game. Luis Gil shut down the D-backs with an upper 90s fastball with a lot of carry on it, mustering just one run on two hits and three walks against the right-hander.

The D-backs quickly found themselves down 5-0 after the top of the 3rd, but the bullpen gave themselves a chance to claw back into the game. Kyle Nelson, Miguel Castro, Joe Mantiply, and Luis Frias combined for 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Kyle Nelson in particular went above and beyond for the team, throwing 26 pitches and three up-downs.

Arizona had two prime opportunities to put up a crooked number to get themselves back in the game. The first came in the third, when they had runners at second and third with no outs and the top of the lineup coming up. Ketel Marte hit a sac fly to deep left. In the seventh, they loaded the bases with no outs with the lineup turning over to the top again. Marte and Gurriel smoked two line drives in the inning, hit at 105.0 and 107.7 MPH respectively, that found defenders.

"I think when you look at it, I count the amount of batters that were up, I think we had six batters come to the plate and only score one run, that inning hurt," said Lovullo. "Gurriel covered that baseball and did a really nice job. He hits that ball down the line and it's a totally different night. That's the beauty of the game, you can do everything right and it doesn't turn out right."

One bright spot in the game came in the 9th inning. Pinch-hitting for Jake McCarthy, Jorge Barrosa doubled to the left center gap in his major league debut. The switch-hitting outfielder was recalled from Triple-A Reno today when Alek Thomas was placed on the 10-day injured list for a left hamstring strain.

The D-backs will have to reload quickly, as they take on the Yankees for Game 2 of this midweek series tomorrow. Right-hander Zac Gallen will take the mound for Arizona. Following a loss, Gallen was 9-5 with a 2.49 ERA in 18 starts in 2023. They'll need him to be equally as effective to put themselves back in the series. He'll be opposed by the crafty left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr., with first pitch at Chase Field set for 6:40 PM MST.