Record: 9-8-3. Change on 2013: +1.5.
Just wasn't very good today! Going to learn from it and have a short memory! On to the next one!
— Archie Bradley (@ArchieBradley7) March 13, 2014
It's perhaps no bad thing, all told, that we were reminded of Archie Bradley's mortality. His first couple of starts had gone so well, that there was a certain sense of a snowball rolling downhill, getting bigger with each turn. Another good start - say, more blank innings - and the pressure would have continued to build, along with demands that Bradley "must" be found a place in our starting rotation. After this afternoon's showing against the Mariners of five hits, two walks and four earned runs in only two innings, much of that pressure has likely been released. Turns out Bradley is human, after all. Who would have thought it?
I don't know if there was any particular reason - Bradley himself doesn't appear to be able to offer any specifics. But it was largely clear from the get-go that this wasn't the best of days for him. He walked the very first batter he faced, who then stole second and advanced to third as Tuffy Gosewisch's throw went wild. A groundout scored the runner, but it was an unearned run - until the next hitter doubled. Scoreless streak over. The second inning was worse: four hits and a walk, the nadir being an RBI single to... Willie Bloomquist. Yeah, might as well find an exhaust pipe and latch onto it after that.
Filling in the innings Bradley was expected to pitch, Bryan Woodall allowed one run on three hits over three innings, and Willy Paredes an unearned run - though as the result of his own error, he probably deserves the blame. Oliver Perez made his D-backs debut as expected in the seventh, allowing a lead-off single, but facing the minimum, courtesy of a double-play to end the frame. Will Harris worked a perfect eighth, and David Hernandez allowed a couple of hits in the final inning, but escaped damage to put up a zero. Also worth noting elsewhere, Brandon McCarthy threw five scoreless innings, on two hits with 6 strikeouts in a Triple-A game vs. San Francisco.
On offense, Chris Owings had a triple and a walk, while Tuffy Gosewisch went 2-for-4, driving in a run with a ninth-inning ground-out. Actually, all three of our scores here came on ground-outs, the other two being off the bat of A.J. Pollock in the fourth and Andy Marte in the eighth, those two late tallies helping to make the final score a bit more respectable. A sellout crowd of 12,611 at Salt River Fields for this one, on what was the first ever "zero waste" game there. I think Archie Bradley's opinion on that may vary... It's off to Maryvale for Arizona tomorrow, to take on Milwaukee. Randall Delgado takes the mound for us, with the first pitch at 1:05pm.