PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - POSTGAME: Moreno, Gurriel, and Perdomo SPARK BLOWOUT as Diamondbacks Humble Betts, Dodgers

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

The Diamondbacks’ offense put up nine runs and handed the Dodgers their fourth loss in a row on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. We have more on the bombs from Gabriel Moreno, Lourdes Gurriel Jr, and Geraldo Perdomo, another quality start from Brandon Pfaadt, and the D-backs getting a huge win to start this series. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the tar out of the Dodgers. And of course, this bullpen still made things close. We're going to talk about the Diamondbacks getting a job done here in game one and 37. Don't you go anywhere. And welcome to another edition of this show that we call the PHNX Diamondback show. I have no idea why I'm live, but I'm live because it's important. The Diamondbacks beat the Dodgers at any time that happens. We have to try to go live.

We have to be live as soon as possible. my name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor. Says it on the back there. Mayor, P-H-N-X. I'm glad to see all of you guys here. What a great performance tonight by the Arizona Diamondbacks to go into Los Angeles and handle this one. Of course, got my guy Shane Diefenbach up entirely too late on the ones and twos. But luckily, he is here now with, you know, with his cat, keeping him company.

And Wolfman Jack in the comments says 9 to 5 is a blowout. well, maybe not, maybe not, but it was a blowout a little bit earlier before that. And of course, like I said, the Diamondbacks bullpen went out there and made this game closer than necessary. You kind of felt like the Diamondbacks needed all of these runs in order to get this job done with how shaky the bullpen has been. And tonight, they lived up to it. And of course, we're really just talking about two runs allowed there by Ryan Thompson late,

who unfortunately continues to be in. consistent for this team and quite frankly can't really be trusted in high leverage opportunities. You know it pains me to say that because T-time is one of my favorite people in the clubhouse. He's an extraordinary person and I would love to see him succeed like he has for this team in the past. But right now he was really struggling. Tonight he went out there. Did not make this game feel very close. However, the Diamondbacks put up nine runs on the Dodgers and this was a really good night for the Diamondbacks offense. Of course, you had just a well-rounded effort. Nobody really stood out, but you did get some big home runs from Lourdes Geryl Jr. He was one for two with two RBI.

You also have contributions from Gabby Moreno, one-for-four with his big home run and his two RBI. And then Perdomo again with a walk, a home run of his own. He was one-for-two with three RBI.B. Again, just a well-rounded effort. A lot of hits, a lot of one-hit nights from everybody on this team. but the Diamondbacks offense that just one night ago was only able to put up one run against the Colorado Rockies, which don't even get me started on that. But now that they come in here to Los Angeles with this a very important series, they were able to get the job done tonight. Great to see all of you guys here.

Great to see you guys in the chat. Let's see who we're talking about cereal already. Good, good, because I know that's going to make Kevin upset, even though Kevin's not here. Brandon fought excellent for this team tonight on the mound. But he did give up those home runs to Mookie Betts who got two off of him. And he also gave up a home run to Shoah Otani. And of course, those are the three home runs that the Dodgers were able to score.

Besides that, Brandon fought was pretty stingy. He really wasn't able, he really wasn't giving up much else to this team. And he did a great job of getting, a lot of soft contact. It was a wild night for Brandon Fott, considering his success, that he did not have a single strikeout in tonight's game. He goes six innings, gives up three earn runs, walked one,

and only gave up those three solo home runs. So at the very least, he was able to keep that damage limited. It did feel like that was pretty much all that Brandon Fought was doing the night, either giving up home runs or giving up very, very soft contact, but another quality start from Brandon Fought and another

opportunity that this starting pitching staff gave this team to win. Again, can't say enough about what this team did offensively because it was just kind of scattered around. And this was on a night where the Dodgers went out. They changed their starter from Landon, Nack being the starter in the game, to being to an opener in Dreyer. And that did not go very well for the Dodgers tonight. Dreyer in his two innings pitch gave up three hits and three earned runs. And then Nack gave up four earned in his outing. So Diamondbacks were able to get to this pitching staff. And honestly, this has been the weakness of the Dodgers. It has been their pitching staff this season, at least right now. Things aren't very solid for the Dodgers. Offensively, they are

a powerhouse still. And it's impressive that Brandon Fott was able to go out there and just limit the damage to those three home runs. However, like I said earlier, the bullpen did not make this any easier for the Diamondbacks tonight. Juan Murillo, he's. He's a lot. He's, He's a guy that continues to be impressive in certain outings. He was very good tonight. And let's give our, like before we go off and talk about my guy tea time again, let's give our flowers to one Scott McGuff, who on a night where these guys were pretty dialed in, goes out there in his one inning of work gets, gets, uh, has sung Kim to

strike out swinging, gets Shohei Otani to ground out, gets mooky bets to fly out to left field. And, and honestly, Scott McGuff, and in his short amount of work here in his time back in the bullpen for the major league club has been impressive and he still not has not allowed an earn run in any of his outings. So he is a guy that might end up being very valuable, a much needed addition to this bullpen. But I'll tell you this much. I don't know what's going on with Ryan Thompson. I really wish that things were better for him. But his BRA has now ballooned up to 7.5. He gave up two earn runs today, walk, walk, one two-thirds innings pitched and just did not have a lot of success out there, to be honest.

So it sucks to see because, again, we know that Ryan Thompson has been a big part of the Diamondbacks bullpen success over the last two seasons. And I think the broadcast said it, but, you know, they really need him to get right. That would be a feel, it would feel like if Ryan Thompson was back, if Ryan Thompson was able to be effective, which, to be fair, that one pitch was a strike. It landed right in the strike zone, and that didn't help out when Ryan Thompson was obviously having his struggles here.

But they did bring in Shelby Miller to get the final out in the ninth inning, and Miller is able to close the door. And again, it's just one of those things where when the Diamondbacks were up, you know, nine to three, even before that, even before, maybe even when they were up, what were they up at one point? They were up seven to one before those. two home runs were hit off of Brandon fought in the sixth inning. But it still didn't really feel like enough against this Dodgers team.

And of course, they proved it really kind of wasn't. I mean, this team is relentless. Their lineup does not stop. Right now they do not have, like I said, very good pitching, but nothing is stopping these guys from being able to score runs. So great night for the Diamondbacks to take this opener, have a chance here in game two to go out there and win their eighth series. of the season. So that's a lot of fun. Of course, we do have our King Snake for tonight, and that is our

one and only Geraldo Perdomo. Perdomo continues to lead all Major League short stops and walks. He added another one of those tonight. He was one for two with three RBI, and he had himself a big home run that that home run really felt like it solidified this game. And at that point, I think people could breathe easy. However, you really couldn't, right? You really couldn't, because we went into that ninth inning, and the Diamondbacks give up two runs, and suddenly I think everybody was panicked. Rightfully so.

I think you've earned the right to be panicked. I did want to say that I feel like Gabby Moreno is back. I think Gabby Moreno is back in more than one way. We're starting to see him spread the ball around. We see him get that big home run tonight. And most importantly, we see him have a 16 pitch at bat, which ties a Diamondbacks record for the most pitches in and at bat.

And I don't even know what you call that. If beyond six pitches is a battle, that was a war. That was a generational war going 16 at bats or 16 pitches in a bat. He did lose. He eventually flew out, but a fun moment there. And I do think that I know it's, I know it's just a 16 pitch at bat that resulted in a flyout. However, I do feel like that's something very different than what we've been seeing out of Gabby lately. and it really feels like he's dialed in.

And again, the other home run contributed tonight by Lordus Gariel Jr. We have said it. I have said it on this podcast. If this team can get contributions from guys not named Corbyn Carol, guys not named Perdomo, guys not named Josh Naylor, that this team will win, right? And they got that tonight. And that's exactly what ended up being the difference maker is those contributions

from guys not named Perdomo, not named Carol. Carol also had another one of those triples where his batting helmet that we just talked about just melted off of his head like a spaceship reentering into the atmosphere into Earth's atmosphere. And that that was a fun moment. However, it was another frustrating case where the Diamondbacks were able to convert a runner in scoring position. And I don't know if there's anything more frustrating than a lead off triple being stranded over there at third base. So there's things that I can honestly say. And maybe this is, maybe you guys are doing this to me. Maybe you're poisoning my brain. Maybe I can

can't enjoy nice things because I'm starting to pick out more of the, you know, things that you really want to criticize, even in wins, than, uh, then, then I would like to. But one for eight with runners in scoring position on a night where you scored nine runs just goes to show how much of a route this could have been. Going back to that original comment, no, you're probably right. I'm probably going to have to do some changing of the title, uh, for this one that I wrote, uh, a couple of innings ago because, yeah, no, this one I don't think you could classify this one necessarily has a blowout any longer considering the Dodgers were able to come back and make it a nine to five game. However, it's still an impressive offensive output from the Diamondbacks who honestly are capable

of it. We just saw him put up 12 and a loss to the Rockies the other night. But yeah, I mean, it's one night removed from the Diamondbacks only putting up one run in a win. And again, just in a very important win that I hope builds confidence with this team. I think shows that this team can beat anybody. Patrick Wayne Collect says anyone else thinks Josh Naler looks like Wario. God damn it, Patrick. That's all I'm going to be able to see now. That's all I'm going to be able to see.

You might be on to something. And I have a lot of Photoshopping to do. Definitely, definitely. Stephen Bananas in the chat says, Derek, where are the Dodger fans in the chat? That's a great question, Stephen. They're not here. They'll be here later in the comments to tell me.

me how wrong I was about the title. In fact, I might just leave the headline just so that they come to comment on the episode. And then we can have a fun game, maybe a drinking game, which right now I'm enjoying one of these wonderful kilt lifters. I know probably no free ads, but I got to give a shout out to our friends over at Four Peaks. They made some amazing Diamondbacks cans. They sent me some over and told me they enjoyed my work and I enjoy their work very much. It's a reciprocal relationship there. But yes, now we have nothing but we're not we're thinking nothing but Wario now. Let's see. Derek Foster says, are you on gas station TV? Is it, is it my internet connection is that what we're, is that what we're cutting at now? I have no idea how good or bad my internet

connection is. It's 10.30 at night. So based on what I'm paying, I should definitely have a good internet connection. But cheers to you all. Cheers to the Diamondbacks winning this one. And of course, a big, big night for the offense. A couple of, like I said, Brandon Fott did what Brandon Fott does. He'll give you a quality start. It's not going to always be clean, but six innings and three runs,

despite what the Chicago Cubs radio, sports radio people will make you believe quality start gives your team a chance to win, period. I know it's not every time, right? Because your offense isn't always going to be able to muster up four runs or more in a game. Sometimes that's going to lead to a loss, right? But Brandon Fott has been incredibly reliable.

for this team and he was again tonight, despite the fact that he did kind of fall apart a little bit there in that sixth inning giving up those two home runs. However, Muki Betts is very good at baseball. So is Shohay Otani. And sometimes you just got to tip your cap to those guys on being able to do what they do. Otani continues to lead the league, I think, at home runs now with the 17th home run, I believe. And yeah, it's just a case where you got to be pretty satisfied with the end result and what Brandon Fott was able to give you and what this bullpen was eventually able to do. Caesar says,

Derek, you wearing the jersey tonight, after the wind means you can't wear nothing else. It must stay on for the streak. Is this another thing where you guys want this to be really stinky? I don't know if I agree with not showering and not changing clothes, but I will say, yes, I was wearing this during the game, and I might not want to edit that. but Ryan, excuse me, Lawrence Harmon brings up Ryan's mustache.

Yeah, I don't know. I like the mustache, but we might have to get rid of it based on the results of tonight's game. I can't say necessarily that we want to keep that around. But maybe we do because the Diamondbacks won. And let's see what happens tomorrow night. Of course, the Diamondbacks have, you know, they continue this big series here against the one and only Dodgers. and now they've handed the Dodgers their fourth loss in a row. Tomorrow the Diamondbacks have Ryan Nelson on the mound going up against Yamamoto,

and that's going to be a huge game for Ryan Nelson, right? Which Ryan Nelson shows up, the guy that absolutely shoves with his fastball, or the guy that can't locate. I mean, hopefully it's that first guy because if not, I don't know where the condition this bullpen is going to be in by game three. Luckily, the Diamondbacks do have Corbyn Burns on the mound in game three going up against Dustin May. And you got to feel very good about the way that Burns has been pitching lately and what he can give you in that game, regardless of where the bullpen is at. But yes, this is a big game two here with Ryan Nelson on the mound.

Something a lot of people have wanted. Now Ryan Nelson gets that opportunity. We did have some health updates. It does something like Justin Martinez, according to reports, will be going to re-enings. He is hitting 99 miles per hour again on the radar gun and he will be making a pitching a appearance there for the Reno Aces. That's a good sign because that means he is close. Of course, once Justin Martinez returns to the bullpen, you feel pretty good about, you know, the some of the options the Diamondbacks will have at that point. But I will say like Ryan Thompson, he's a guy who has to, you know, find a way to get things back on.

track because when guys do start returning those bullpen spots are going to uh become you know they're going to dry up really quickly and he could be one of the guys that finds himself out of a you know out of that position out of that job and you know how much i would hate that because we just have a new handshake where he's supposed to choke slam me and i know that that's a bad idea but it's still a whole lot of fun and it's a wrestling thing uh diamondbacks again win this one big night here for raldo So Pardomo, big night for Gabby Moreno. Just all around, like I said, it's 11 hit night here by the Diamondbacks, and no guy had more than two hits.

And it's just an impressive outing overall. Tim Tawa, by the way, a guy haven't even brought up, deserves a lot of respect on his name because Tim Tawa is a guy that has been playing center field extremely well. He did so again tonight. He made a great catch out there in center field. He was two for four tonight. In fact, he was the, beside him and Pavin Smith,

were the two guys that had two hits for this team. And both of those guys scored, didn't get an RBI, but they scored a run. Big part of this was just guys getting on base and being able to convert those runners. And again, Tau is now hitting 241. He has a 781 OPS. And to be fair, he's playing some great defense in center field.

I guarantee you can go back and find episodes of this show about less than two weeks ago, where I was just absolutely, confident that Tim Tao was not going to play in the corner spots in the outfield. And I guess I was right because he's playing center field and doing a fine job at it. I think that most Diamondbacks fans are now getting to a point, much like the front office, that we want to see results as much as we love guys like Jake McCarthy and Alec Thomas. If a guy like Tim Tawa comes out and outplays them and shines, then that's the guy we want

center field, right? And so far, I don't have any complaints about his defense. However, Tori did admit that Alec Thomas is the superior defender out there, and I don't know if he's wrong about that. I will say, though, that Tawa on both ends of the ball, has been given the diamond back some good contributions lately. So I don't know. Yeah, Candice Montoya in the chat says, rookie of the year. Why not? I'm not against it. I don't hate that idea at all. Not even a little bit. Now we're now and we're now already getting ready to send Lawler back down according to some of you in the chat. Yeah, that's a whole other thing. We don't have time for that tonight. We're not doing negativity. We're doing positivity tonight. The Diamondbacks win nine to five. And I once again,

I'm positive that Dodgers fans are going to hate the headline of this show, but I don't care. I don't care. Leaving it up, I made that decision. Earlier I said I was changing it. Now I'm reversing my call. I'm leaving it up. Because you know what? Putting up nine runs on the Dodgers is good. And it's the only way that Diamondbacks can really feel confident about these games, right? One thing that the Dodgers are very capable of is scoring runs late, and they did that once again in this game, four runs in the sixth inning and later. However, the Diamondbacks also added those very, like I said, those very important home runs there from Perdomo, or home run there in the eighth inning off for Perdomo. But great defense tonight by Josh Naylor, by the way, on a couple plays. getting impressed, getting much better over there.

So again, things are starting to click for this team. And you got to hand it to them because on a night where Brandon fought didn't get a single strikeout, this team was solid defensively behind him. And a big reason why he was only able to give up those three runs on those three hits and those three home runs is because of the defense. So Diamondbacks played a great game tonight. Overall, going to have to continue playing great baseball to take the rest of the series. hopefully they could give Ryan Nelson the same kind of run support tomorrow against Yamamoto.

First time the Diamondbacks faced Yamamoto, they did a great job of making him work, being patient against him. And I believe they put up five earned runs against him, one of the best showings against Yamamoto this season. So hopefully they have something figured out, and they could do that thing tomorrow. But we will be back tomorrow. Before we do that, I think we got some super chats. Let's get to some super chats real fast. What do we got here?

We got M says, it's time. to talk about Ryan, it's been rough. Yeah, you know, you look, you know I don't want to talk about this. You know this makes me sad, but it's true. And again, it comes down to the fact that when you start looking around at the bullpen performances, you know, we all like to give Scott McGuff a lot of crap, right, based on him being put into a starter role and not really having success there last season and, you know, prior to that, right? But there is something about, you know, the fact that. to again, I think someone said it in the chat, a great redemption arc. And we could have that here with McGuff. And so far, he's been able to give the Diamondbacks some good outings. That's all you can ask for.

Tonight, he faced Otani and Betts and got through that with three up, three down. So I don't think you can ask for very much more from Scott McGuff. He could be that guy that ends up tipping the scales in the Diamondbacks favor and sticks around there in the bullpen. Nobody's job is really safe. And of course, with the inevitable return of Justin Martinez and AJ Puck, who he started throwing his throwing program. The other update was that Eduardo Rodriguez started throwing his program as well, his throwing program. So some good updates on the arms, the Diamondbacks are missing right now.

But once those arms return, there is going to be an odd man out somewhere. And again, this point, it very well could be Ryan Thompson with the way he's pitching if you can't figure out a way to get things together. And I can't have that because who am I going to talk about pro wrestling with in the locker room? Who? Who? I'm supposed to talk about it with other media members. They look at me and Brian like we're absolute nerds when we do that.

And that's coming from guys like Jesse and Alex Weiner looking at us like nerds. How dare they? How dare they? All right. What else we got? We got some more super chats. Patrick Wayne collects says, praying we stayed below 10, 1, and 4 when we score 10.

Yeah, no, I mean, it's, it's, it's not good that we are 1 and 4 when we score 10 runs. And it's not good that you have to pray for us to stop at 9, just so that we don't reach that scary number that screws us. Oh, that's terrible. All right. Well, else we got, shame. We got one more. Stephen Banana said, you did 18 innings today, load management day tomorrow.

look, when I'm called upon, I'm ready to go. I don't get ready. I stay ready. I don't need to get warmed up. I'm hot all the time. All gas, no breaks. Yadda mean, but yeah. Oh, I mean, I definitely need a nap for sure.

A piece of Yoshi says, Derek, you're going to have to go to Reno. I don't want to go to Reno again. I don't have any options left. Oh, man. But, hey, this one was fun. In fact, too fun for me not to jump on here and do a quick pod. with you guys. Appreciate you guys stopping by. We're going to do another podcast tomorrow night. We're going to do it after tomorrow's game. So join us for that postgame show.

Probably be around the same time. I'll be with a better camera in a better studio, but still not as fun. It has video games, but not this many video games, but I'll be there, of course. So make sure to join us for that. In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. Shane is at Shane Deef. our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs, but of course, as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I appreciate you guys so much for stopping by again. We will see you tomorrow.

In the meantime, enjoy this win. Have a wonderful evening. We'll be back again tomorrow. Behave yourselves and remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you whoop the Dodgers.