Montero Hot, Cahill Not for the D’backs
By Thomas Lynch
To me, there were two storylines coming out of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 6-1 loss last night to the St. Louis Cardinals. The first was the disasterous debut by Heath Bell which was covered perfectly by our own Christian Moffet. I encourage you to click here and read it. The second was the outing turned in by pitcher Trevor Cahill in a start that mimicked much of his 2012 season. It was dominant at certain times and then one bad inning doomed him. Hopefully, this type of start won’t be repeated too often in 2013.
Trevor Cahill had a bad sixth inning in last night’s 6-1 loss. Image: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Cahill cruised through the first three innings facing one batter over the minimum. The Cards got to him in the fourth scoring a run evening the score at one before the big righty set the Redbirds down in order in the fifth. The sixth frame proved to be his undoing as he plunked Jon Jay and then one out later, surrendered a two run dinger to Matt Holliday. To be fair, it wasn’t an awful pitch; Holliday just went down and hit a laser into the left field seats. After striking out Allen Craig, Cahill surrendered a single and then a walk before being pulled in favor of Tony Sipp. Cahill’s final numbers read 5.2 innings pitched giving up three runs, five hits, two walks, a hit batter, two wild pitches and seven strikeouts. Doesn’t that line remind you of about half his starts last season?
Being the optimist I am there had to be something positive during last night’s defeat. That came in the form of Miguel Montero whose opposite field home run leading off the second inning provided the only run for the D’backs. Miggy also provided the defensive highlight of the night when he picked Pete Kozma off first base in the third inning. Montero generated two of the three Arizona hits on the evening as he also singled in the fourth. He is hitting .500 in six at-bats over the first two games. Fresh off his solid effort in the World Baseball Classic, the 29-year old catcher seems primed for another big season.
Are any of you concerned about Trevor Cahill?
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