Apr 16, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt (32) pitches in the first inning against the Miami Marlins at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images / Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
The Arizona Diamondbacks are back home and will face some critical matchups during this homestand. Kicking it off is a set against the Tampa Bay Rays, a matchup between 1998 expansion teams.
The Rays, who swept the D-backs in 2024, have also historically performed well against them. Since 2017 Tampa Bay has a 2-7 record against Arizona.
Brandon Pfaadt will take the mound, facing a club with very little experience against him. The 26-year-old right-hander has pitched excellently in his last two turns through the rotation, combining for 11 and 2/3 innings with only one earned run allowed.
His overall 2025 ERA now sits at 3.04, a strong step forward from last year’s numbers. On the other hand his strikeouts have fallen quite a bit, fanning only nine batters in those previous 11 2/3 innings, and only 18 on the season in a 23.2 inning workload.
For the Rays, Zack Littell will lead his club onto the field. The former Giants reliever has found a nice home with the Rays, where he put up sub-four ERAs in the past two seasons.
Littell has gotten off to a rocky start, pitching to a 5.48 ERA in four starts. The biggest blows came in back-to-back starts against the Rangers and Angels where he allowed 12 runs in eleven total innings.
Against a strong offensive club in the Diamondbacks he will need to find a way to counter their patient approach.
Diamondbacks lineup vs Rays / Aaron Hughes
Corbin Carroll, who has been the Diamondbacks’ MVP to this point in the year, is coming off his first “rough” series of 2025. In the finale against the Cubs the former ROTY lost his season-long on-base streak, going five for sixteen but striking out five times. This was still very productive, but some out of zone chases stood out.
Pavin Smith continues to demolish the baseball to start the season out of the DH spot. He’s now hitting .382 with a 226 OPS+ to begin 2025 with his OBP sitting at .485. In his last series against the Cubs he went two for eight with three walks.
The Diamondbacks did notably option outfielder Jake McCarthy down to Triple-A Reno on Monday. and the move was made official on Tuesday. With that, Alek Thomas gets the start in center field, and will likely do so for the majority of games going forward, though the D-backs did call up young switch-hitting center field option Jorge Barrosa in a corresponding move.
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