Over 40,000 fans packed out a sold-out Chase Field for Opening Day celebrations. Fighter jets from the Luke Air Force Base provided the flyover. It felt like we had never left. Zac Gallen got the start VS the Cubs, which you may be asking yourself. Why didn’t Burnes start? Well Lovullo said it was a scheduling mishap on his end.
“This was probably a tactical error on my part. I’ll take the responsibility for that,” Lovullo said to Jake Garcia from 12 Sports.
“Corbin is a very routine-oriented player and I’ve yet to understand that until recently, and he’s got a process and I respect that. I blame myself for not getting to know him and how important his routine on the day-by-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute, second-by-second (is),”
This does set up Burnes to start the first road game of the season against the New York Yankees, which means the Yankees would be facing Burnes, Gallen and possibly Merrill Kelly.
But regardless, this meant that Zac Gallen was going to be starting his third consecutive Opening Day, which in my opinion, he deserved it. He’s been with the team since the extremely low lows, that every fan tries to forget. Then pitching in the 2023 World Series.
Unfortunately, Zac Gallen didn’t have the day that most fans expected him too. Gallen struggled in a 4 inning start, walking four, allowing four runs, four walks, and had four strikeouts. He threw 83 pitches, with only 43 of those being strikes, a strike percentage of 52%.
But it wasn’t Gallen’s performance that costed the win, the offense was able to keep the game close through the first four innings, with the Cubs leading 4-3, but things took a turn for the worse for Arizona during a play in the fifth.
With two outs, the Cubs had runners on first and second, and rookie Matt Shaw stepped up to the plate. Zac Gallen forced Shaw into an easy grounder to short, which Geraldo Perdomo fielded cleanly. Rather than making the routine throw to first for an easy out, Perdomo opted to go for the forceout at second instead.
Perdomo failed to account for the fact that the speedy Pete Crow-Armstrong was sprinting from first to second, and his throw arrived just a fraction too late.
Instead of ending the inning, the Cubs found themselves with the bases loaded.
Miguel Amaya then sent a deep fly ball to left-center, where Jake McCarthy sprinted into the gap and made a diving attempt. The ball, however, slipped in and out of his glove, allowing all three runners to score. That crucial play extended Chicago’s lead to 7-3, ultimately sealing the game.
Perdomo said to reporters after the game
“I went right away to [Lovullo] and I told him it was my fault,” Perdomo said. “I should have thrown it to the right base. You have to know who’s running, too; PCA is really a great runner. He’s got speed and like I said, I should have thrown it to first base. That was the big difference right there. If I make that out, it’s three outs. You saw what happened next — three-run double. It’s tough to start out the season like that, but I have to move on from that.”
The Diamondbacks dropped a tough one in front of a sellout crowd. A 10-6 loss starts the Diamondbacks off in the loss column.
The Diamondbacks will have two more opportunities to take the series win on Friday and Sunday. Then they will travel to the Bronx to face Aaron Judge and the Yankees.
Bear Sports News Player of the Game
Eugenio Suarez gets the nod for the first Player of the Game award, i don’t think this will be his last either. All though he went 1/3 last night, he got the Diamondbacks first home-run of the season, which to me, makes it look like Suarez isn’t stopping after his impressive 2024 campaign. He’s back and hungrier for more.
Jalen Beeks was also recently signed to the Diamondbacks and made the Opening Day roster, he impressed in 1.2 IP by striking out one, and not allowing any hits. I couldn’t choose between the two players, so they both get the nod today.
Final Thoughts
I love baseball, because despite there being over 160 games, if you drop the first game of the season. It’s over and you might as well pack it up for next season. Well i’m here to tell everyone to relax. The Diamondbacks showed good signs of life last night but just some small mistakes, costed us big. But thankfully it’s only the first game of the season, and there is still 161 games left in the season.
Let’s just hope that the season doesn’t come down to just one game like it did in 2024.
Bear Sports News 
Leave a comment