After a day to recover from a season-opening three-game sweep by the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the Arizona Diamondbacks return to Phoenix for their home opener Monday against the Detroit Tigers in the first game of a three-game set.
The Tigers opened on a more positive note, winning two of three from the Padres in San Diego, where precocious 21-year-old rookie Kevin McGonigle had a rousing series after being told on Tuesday that he had made the team.
“It was all about baseball,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said of the decision to keep McGonigle, rated by most as the No. 2 major league prospect.
“It was all about winning. We kept returning to the idea that we are trying to win as many games as we can. We are trying to win the World Series. If Kevin McGonigle helps us get there … ”
Detroit added a World Series-winning piece in the offseason in three-time Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, who is scheduled to make the first start of his 21st major league season Monday after a rocky spring.
Verlander — who spent the first 12-plus seasons of his career with Detroit — will oppose right-hander Mike Soroka, whom Arizona signed to a one-year, $7.5 million deal in the offseason with incentives that could bring the total to $9.5 million.
McGonigle, 21, had four hits — including doubles in his first two plate appearances — and two RBIs in an 8-2 victory in the season opener Thursday to join select company.
He is the fourth-youngest player to have four hits in his debut, behind only Willie McCovey, Delino DeShields and Cecil Travis, according to MLB.com.
Verlander had high praise for McGonigle after seeing him this spring.
“He reminds me a bit of (Alex) Bregman, I think,” Verlander said. “Kind of like really into the game, watches and sees a lot. I don’t like comparing people, it just seems like he rises to the occasion.
“He expects to be in the moment. As a rookie, that’s hard. It’s difficult to have that level of confidence, but it really can serve you well. He’s not cocky at all. It’s like a business. It’s been fun seeing him.”
Verlander signed a one-year, $13 million contract with the Tigers after nine years and two Cy Young Awards away. He won the Cy Young with Detroit in 2011 and Houston in 2019 and ’22.
He gave up seven homers in 14 2/3 innings in spring training, posting a 6.75 ERA with 19 strikeouts and five walks.
“I feel good about my off-speed stuff,” Verlander said, adding the numbers were a byproduct of working on pitches rather than concentrating on getting outs. “Still need fastball control.
“In the season, if something is not working, you scratch and claw and figure out how to get guys out that day. In spring training, if something is not working, you work on it. For me, game speed is the only time you can work on stuff like that.”
The Diamondbacks lost two-run leads in each of their losses to the Dodgers, the last coming when Will Smith hit a two-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning of a 3-2 Los Angeles win Saturday.
The Dodgers also beat the Arizona bullpen Friday, when Kyle Tucker singled in the go-ahead win in the eighth inning for a 5-4 victory.
“I did not think we would be coming home 0-3, but we are,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’ve got to understand why it happened, accept why it happened, get better and get ready for a very spirited Monday.”
Arizona is 0-3 for the fifth time in franchise history, the first since a 110-loss in 2021. The Diamondbacks opened 0-4 in 1999 but recovered to win 100 games and the NL West after losing their first three to the Dodgers in Los Angeles that season.
–Field Level Media
