PHOENIX — The Diamondbacks had a chance to take the series finale against the Miami Marlins. Blake Walston was solid in his first major league start, but the hitters struggled to muster up any offense for the second time in this series. The defense wasn’t sharp in this game and one sloppy inning came back to bite them in a 3-1 loss.
Walston looked strong out of the gate, retiring the first three hitters of the game in impressive fashion. Despite dealing with traffic the rest of the way, he made the necessary pitches to keep the Marlins off the scoreboard. He finished with 4 2/3 scoreless innings, with just three hits, one walk, and five strikeouts.
With a lot of uncertainty with the starting rotation, it was an encouraging start for the young left-hander. Walston began to falter in the fifth. After retiring the first batter, he walked No.
9 hitter Nick Fortes then gave up a single to Dane Myers. Bryan De La Cruz hit a sharp ground ball up the middle, but Kevin Newman made a diving stop and a shovel toss to second to get the force on Myers. That became a pivotal play in the game and Walston’s final hitter of the day.
“Blake, for me, was more than efficient,” said Lovullo. “It looked like he was getting a little loose with his stuff. I don’t like to clip a starting pitcher that early, but I wanted to handle him with care.
He did his job, stepped off the mound, kept us in the game.” Justin Martinez entered with runners at the corners and fell behind Josh Bell 3-0.