If there were any thoughts that signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks might spark a career rejuvenation for Dallas Keuchel, they are quickly evaporating.
Keuchel struggled in his first inning with Arizona. If there was a positive from that outing, he did do a decent job making bats miss, striking out seven. On the other hand, when he didn’t make the bats miss, the contact was loud. He allowed four runs on six hits and three walks in only 4.1 innings. His second start with the Diamondbacks came on Saturday against the Colorado Rockies — on the road at Coors Field.
Not surprisingly, things did not go well. Keuchel allowed four runs in the first inning, three of which came on a three-run home run from Brendan Rodgers.
FIRST INNING FIREWORKS🎆 pic.twitter.com/SyE8rIFfi5
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) July 3, 2022
Keuchel seemed to settle in well from there, retiring the side in order in both the second and third innings and retiring the first two hitters in the fourth. But then the trouble came back.
Randall Grichuck doubled, then Ryan McMahon and Brian Serven both walked to load the bases for Connor Joe. Joe made Keuchel pay with a bases-clearing triple.
https://twitter.com/JustBBMedia/status/1543418435207659520
Keuchel is a long way from the form he showed when he won the American League Cy Young Award in 2015, something several baseball fans were quick to point out.
Dallas Keuchel is cooked, it seems
— Rox Pile (@RoxPileFS) July 3, 2022
batting against keuchel at coors? is that allowed? that sounds like a loophole
— Catherine Tinker (@catherinetinker) July 3, 2022
Literal BP lol thank you Keuchel for being employed https://t.co/yVUTjtOQCE
— Brock (@B9B9B9) July 3, 2022
Dallas Keuchel isn’t fooling ANYONE tonight.
— PHNX Diamondbacks (@PHNX_Dbacks) July 3, 2022
I was a fan of the Keuchel move at first, but after seeing him throw twice now, I hate it. He looks terrible. 86-88mph fastballs are not gonna cut it.
— Zach Werwinski (@ZWerwinski42) July 3, 2022
Keuchel did pitch a scoreless fifth inning but left the game having allowed seven runs (six earned) on six hits with three walks on only three strikeouts. That’s a 9.64 ERA, 1.93 WHIP and a 1.67 strikeouts per walk ratio in his two outings with the Diamondbacks. If we include his time with the Chicago White Sox before getting designated for assignment, Keuchel has an 8.10 ERA, 2.13 WHIP and a strikeouts per walk ratio of only 1.09.
It’s hard to imagine he’ll have many more chances if things don’t turn around in a big way.
