Eduardo Rodríguez, a left-hander, performed considerably better in his second start of the spring, despite the stat line appearing to be similar to his first. After being stung for three runs by the Brewers just three batters into the game, Rodríguez settled in to finish the full three innings.
The left-hander for the D-backs stated, “I feel great. I pitched three innings today.” “I feel I’m on a really good pace for the start of the season.”
Compared to his previous outing, the command was far sharper, landing 35 of his 55 pitches for strikes. Deeper into his start, he was able to use his cutter and changeup more skillfully. After hitting the home run, Rodríguez claimed he was able to pitch like he usually does during the regular season.
When the first two Brewer hitters of the inning reached on walks and bloop singles, it was a crucial moment in the top of the second inning.
Their middle infielders both came up to relieve their ailing pitcher. After stopping a ground ball up the middle by Jackson Chourio with a range to his far right, Blaze Alexander earned the force at second. Christian Yelich grounded ball at 103.6 mph, but Geraldo Perdomo made a brilliant backhand stop to end the inning and prevent Milwaukee from scoring.
Blaze made a fantastic play, according to Lovullo, “which is not easy to do on a short throw like that. He threw accurately to Perdomo, who stretched at second.” After Perdomo made a fantastic play to retrieve a hard-hit ball and hit Blaze with a strike, we were out of the inning in three pitches.”
The defence played a pretty sloppy game in the end, despite playing excellent defence early on. In addition to making two mistakes, the d-backs left players off the pitch at crucial times. With two on and two out, Pavin Smith tried to field a ground ball hit off of Garrett Mitchell, but all he could do was slow it down as it went by him for a two-run double. It was Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
