Although their three-game winning streak ended Thursday, the Arizona Diamondbacks are rolling on offense as they begin a three-game road series against the Washington Nationals on Friday.
The Diamondbacks fell 9-7 to the host New York Yankees on Thursday, while the Nationals had the day off after opening the season 1-5.
Arizona led the majors with 886 runs last season and is tied for third at the start of this year with 45 runs through seven games. The Nationals have scored 21 runs, which ranks 23rd.
Third baseman Eugenio Suarez is leading the Arizona assault with five homers, including a grand slam that beat the Yankees on Tuesday. He is tied with the Yankees’ Aaron Judge for the major league lead in long balls. All six of Suarez’s hits have gone for extra bases.
Geraldo Perdomo’s seventh-inning grand slam sliced into Arizona’s 9-3 deficit on Thursday, but the Yankees held on to salvage the finale of a three-game series.
“We kept fighting,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “I’ve been in this stadium for a long time, I’ve been in a lot of games in this stadium, and I just felt like there’s no lead that’s safe.”
Washington has lost three in a row, the most recent a 4-2 setback at Toronto on Wednesday in which pinch runner Jacob Young was thrown out attempting to steal second base for the final out of the game with Nathaniel Lowe on third.
The Nationals never led while being swept in a three-game series against the Blue Jays, scoring only seven runs. Washington had double-digit hits only once, in an 11-6 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in the second game of the season when Lowe, Keibert Ruiz and Amed Rosario all homered.
Switch hitter Ruiz will bring a six-game hitting streak into the series, and he has been promoted to third in the order the past three games as manager Dave Martinez looks for a spark.
“He’s really staying behind the ball really well,” Martinez said of Ruiz, who is batting .381 (8-for-21). “He’s not jumping at the ball. He’s getting the ball in the zone, and when he hits the ball in the zone, he’s really good … and he hits the ball hard.”
Nationals rookie outfielder Dylan Crews, the second overall pick in the 2023 draft, is 0-for-18 with 10 strikeouts.
Arizona right-hander Brandon Pfaadt will make his second start of the season, after he signed a five-year, $45 million contract extension on Friday that will take him through the 2030 season. The team holds an option for 2031, and the contract includes a mutual option for 2032.
Pfaadt (0-1, 4.50 ERA) gave up six hits and three runs in six innings during a 4-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Saturday, the principal damage coming on Kyle Tucker’s two-run homer in the fifth inning. Pfaadt struck out five and walked one.
He has faced the Nationals once, on June 19, 2024, and he gave up three runs in 6 1/3 innings while taking a 3-1 loss. Pfaadt, who relies on control, walked a career-high four in that game. He has walked an average of 2.2 batters per nine innings in his three-year career.
Washington right-hander Jake Irvin (0-0, 3.60 ERA) will make his second start of the season after giving up two runs in five innings in a no-decision against the Phillies on Saturday.
Irvin is 0-2 with a 4.80 ERA in three career starts against the Diamondbacks, two in 2023.
Arizona is 14-5 against the Nationals since 2022 and has won seven of its past eight games at Nationals Park.
–Field Level Media
