Arizona Diamondbacks Blanked by Hyun-Jin Ryu

Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

To put it quite simply, unless your name is Miguel Montero, you did not have a good night as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In a season where seemingly nothing has gone right, the negativity continued to follow the D-Backs all the way home to Chase Field.  Being blanked by a score of 6-0 at the hands of Korean sensation Hyun-Jin Ryu, has placed the team at a less than enviable 4-9.

Last outing, Ryu was slayed.  It was his shortest start in the big leagues thus far (just two innings), and he surrendered the most runs (six earned).  Logic tells us that either Ryu was entering comatose, and would be easy pickings, or he could rebound like the potentially dominating pitcher we know him to be.  Unfortunately, for the Diamondbacks, it was the latter.

Outside of two singles, which came in the second and fourth inning off the bat of Montero, Ryu was untouchable.  Carving up Arizona for seven innings and eight strikeouts, the Dodgers put on display what’s going to make them so difficult to beat come playoff time; their starting pitching.  At the moment, Ryu is teetering on being their second or third starter, in compliment to Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke.  That trio alone could single-handedly win a series.

While he was watching Ryu flip up zeros as if they were rudimentary, Brandon McCarthy was struggling to get outs.  Then again, most do against the Dodgers.  Things started off on the wrong foot, as long-time villain, Adrian Gonzalez, unleashed a clubbing two-run home run to right field to stake the Dodgers to a 2-0 lead they would never relinquish, only improve upon. 

With a top four in the batting order consisting of Carl Crawford, Yasiel Puig, Hanley Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez, outs are difficult to come by.  Combined, they went 8-for-16, with all six of the game’s runs driven in. 

McCarthy was the unfortunate soul who had to take the brunt of the beating, as it was announced Josh Collmenter would be entering the starting rotation for Monday’s game against the New York Mets.  For a bullpen that has been decimated by ineffectiveness, Kirk Gibson has been stripped of yet another weapon to potentially be used.

Even Paul Goldschmidt, who was previously 8-for-16 in his career against Ryu, went hitless on the day.  For once, the club cannot blame their batting average with runners in scoring position—considering, they never had anyone in scoring position.  It’s a double-edged sword.

Starting at the bizarre timeslot of 5:10 later on this evening, the Diamondbacks take to the diamond to take on their embroiled enemy.  Wade Miley goes in opposition of Zack Greinke, as the D-Backs hellacious start to the season continues.  Should they be able to weather the current storm, they may come out better for it on the other side.