PHOENIX — If body language was any indication, Friday's starting pitchers had a good idea how the Arizona Diamondbacks' 7-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins would go.
Madison Bumgarner watched Byron Buxton's leadoff fly ball land 10 rows up in the left-field seats and seemed to shrug as he waited for another baseball. Devin Smeltzer watched Jordan Luplow's bottom-of-the-first answer, a two-run blast to put Arizona ahead, and fumed at himself for the down-the-middle fastball that made it possible.
The Twins put 10 runners on base during Bumgarner's first five innings, but the veteran lefthander, a three-time World Series champion who hadn't won a start in more than a month, appeared unimpressed, allowing only one runner to score after Buxton's leadoff homer.
Smeltzer, barely a month in the majors this season but who had won three straight decisions, was flustered from the start, allowing hits in each of the five innings he pitched, and runs in four of them. Smeltzer gave up two home runs to the slump-ridden Luplow, fielded a bunt and threw it into right field to allow two more runs to score, and absorbed his first loss since Aug. 9, 2019 — 19 appearances and nine starts ago.
