Tyler Mahle (1-7, 5.49 ERA) draws tonight's short straw at Chase Field, making just his 2nd start back from a left hamstring strain that shelved him for most of June. His return last Wednesday against Oakland was promising enough — 5.2 innings, 0 runs, 2 hits, 4 strikeouts, 70 pitches — but one clean outing does not erase what came before it. Eduardo Rodriguez (6-2, 2.27 ERA) gets the ball for Arizona at 6:40 PM MT in one of the more uneven pitching matchups on the board tonight.
E-Rod has quietly become one of the better stories in the National League. His last outing — 6.2 scoreless innings against St. Louis on June 23, surrendering just 3 hits and striking out 5 — is the kind of start Arizona desperately needs as its rotation has been gutted from the top down. Corbin Burnes is shut down with a teres major strain. Ryne Nelson and Blake Walston are on the 60-day IL. Cristian Mena had shoulder surgery and is done for the year. Rodriguez is no longer a complementary arm — he is the staff.
San Francisco arrived in Phoenix as one of baseball's bigger disappointments. At 35-48, the Giants are in a race with Colorado for the worst record in the NL — a brutal outcome for a front office that signed Willy Adames, landed Matt Chapman, and traded for Rafael Devers expecting a contender. Devers is hitting .235 with a .729 OPS and has already created clubhouse friction under first-year manager Tony Vitello. Adames is at .225 with a .697 OPS while playing below-average defense. Chapman has managed just 7 home runs in 333 plate appearances. The bullpen situation is even worse: Hayden Birdsong had UCL reconstruction surgery, and Randy Rodriguez, Joel Peguero, Rowan Wick, and Jose Butto are all on the 60-day IL. The Giants did take 2 of 3 from Atlanta this past weekend — including a 5-0 shutout and a 3-2 win Sunday — which provides a small pulse heading into this series.
- Day-To-DayWilly Adames SS — Adames went 1-for-3 with a solo home run, a walk and an additional run scored in Thursday's 9-6 loss to the Athletics.
- Day-To-DayCasey Schmitt LF — Schmitt went 3-for-4 with a home run, two doubles and two RBI in Saturday's 6-3 loss to the Marlins.
- 10-Day-ILDaniel Susac C — The Giants placed Susac on the 10-day injured list Friday with a lower-back strain, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.
- 10-Day-ILHarrison Bader CF — Bader met with Dr. Robert Anderson on June 5 and received a stem-cell injection to address plantar fasciitis in his left foot, MLB.com reports.
- 15-Day-ILKeaton Winn RP — Winn (elbow) began a throwing program Monday, Evan Webeck of the California Post reports.
- 60-Day-ILJason Foley RP — Foley (shoulder) struck out two over a scoreless inning in a rehab appearance with Triple-A Sacramento on Friday.
- 60-Day-ILJoel Peguero RP — The Giants placed Peguero on the 60-day injured list Monday due to a left hamstring strain, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
- 60-Day-ILRowan Wick RP — The Giants placed Wick (elbow) on the 60-day injured list Sunday, Justice delos Santos of The San Jose Mercury News reports.
- Day-To-DayA.J. Vukovich CF — no
- Day-To-DayDerek Law RP — no
- Day-To-DayKyle Amendt RP — Amendt was invited to major-league spring training by the Diamondbacks, Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports reports.
- 10-Day-ILJames McCann C — McCann (quadriceps) will start playing games in the Arizona Complex League next week, MLB.com reports.
- 10-Day-ILJordan Lawlar LF — The Diamondbacks placed Lawlar on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a right hamstring strain.
- 15-Day-ILMichael Soroka SP — Soroka (glute) is expected to begin throwing bullpen sessions twice weekly starting Tuesday, MLB.com reports.
- developmental listJuan Centeno C — The Diamondbacks re-assigned Centeno to minor-league camp Friday.
- 60-Day-ILRyne Nelson SP — The Diamondbacks transferred Nelson (elbow) to the 60-day injured list Thursday.
Arizona's offense needs to wake up after a dismal road trip. The Diamondbacks scored just 4 total runs across 3 games in Tampa, going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position in the series opener alone. Jordan Lawlar is on the 10-day IL with a hamstring strain, James McCann is out at catcher, and Torey Lovullo has been running out of lineup combinations to explain a group that simply has not hit when it matters. The upside tonight is that Mahle's track record and San Francisco's threadbare bullpen should offer Arizona's lineup real opportunities — they just have to do something with them.