MILWAUKEE -- The magnitude of the moment didn’t hit Taylor Rashi until he actually got out to the pitcher’s mound. After six Minor League seasons, a serious injury and doubts about whether to keep playing, the 29-year-old made his big league debut on Thursday afternoon.
And what a debut it was.
Rashi tossed three scoreless innings to pick up the save as the Diamondbacks won for a second straight day, beating the Brewers, 6-4, to gain a split in the four-game series at American Family Field.
After Nabil Crismatt allowed four runs (two earned) over 5 2/3 innings and Jalen Beeks tossed one-third of an inning, Rashi came on to start the seventh to protect a two-run lead.
“It was cool,” Rashi said. “It was a lot. I wasn't really nervous until I got on the mound and I was like, ‘OK, it's time.’ I think the nerves kind of set in a little bit there. I was a little bit shaky today, not my normal self, but got to find a way.
“I try my best not to worry about things that I can't control, but once I got on the mound, that's when I could start to control things. And that's when I kind of put a little bit more pressure on myself than I probably needed to. But that’s all right.”
Rashi allowed a pair of baserunners in the seventh, but he struck out Andrew Vaughn and Isaac Collins to end the inning.
After a 1-2-3 eighth, the Brewers made things interesting in the ninth when, with one out, Caleb Durbin doubled to right and William Contreras drew a walk.
That brought up one of Milwaukee’s hottest hitters in Brice Turang, but Rashi was able to get him to fly out harmlessly to left. With Vaughn’s spot due up, Brewers manager Pat Murphy played his final card and sent veteran Christian Yelich to the plate.
That put a jolt in the 35,822 in attendance, many of whom have no doubt seen plenty of heroics from Yelich over the years.
“I tell myself -- you want to be the best, you got to beat the best,” Rashi said. “He's one of the best players in the game, and, just find a way to get him out.”
Yelich worked the count full before Rashi jammed him with a 90 mph fastball resulting in a weak grounder to second to end the game. Rashi is the fourth D-backs pitcher to log a save in his MLB debut -- joining Byung-Hyun Kim (May 29, 1999), Jon Duplantier (April 1, 2019) and Taylor Clarke (April 20, 2019).
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo didn’t know a lot about Rashi when his contract was selected from Triple-A Reno on Wednesday, but he had read the reports and knew that Reno pitching coach Jeff Bajenaru was vociferous in saying that Rashi deserved a shot after pitching well in 40 games this year.
“He doesn't back down,” Lovullo said of what he was told. “Great heartbeat, going to pound the zone, get big outs. No situation is too big for him, and he deserves this opportunity. So when we start to hear those types of things, you know, the player is ready.”
Drafted by the Giants in the 23rd round of the 2019 MLB Draft, Rashi was selected by the Diamondbacks in the first round of the Minor League phase of the ‘22 Rule 5 Draft.
Rashi was limited to just 11 games in ‘23 due to a torn lat muscle, and it was then that he thought maybe his dream of pitching in the big leagues might not happen.
“I was like, I don't know if this is worth it, but this, this made it all worth it,” Rashi said.