It's unfortunate FSNAZ couldn't broadcast this game. Facing the Mariners isn't an every season occurrence, especially when you get to face arguably the best pitcher in the A.L, Felix Hernandez. The last time they face King Felix was all the way back in 2009, when he went 7 innings, giving up just 2 runs.
But that fact didn't stop the Dbacks from wasting any time as Ender Inciarte led things off with a single on the second pitch of the game. A.J Pollock immediately followed that with a double down the left field line to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs and Paul Goldschmidt at the plate. He promptly dumped a single into left scoring both runs and making things 2-0. After a strikeout of David Peralta, former Mariner Welington Castillo homered to deep left field to make things 4-0. 14 pitches into the game and it was obvious the game plan against Felix was to jump on him early in the count and the Dbacks followed that plan well, smashing just about everything Felix was throwing to the plate.
Felix Hernandez settled down after that, using the Dbacks aggressiveness against them as he struck out 5 Dbacks through the first 3 innings until Castillo came to the plate for his 2nd appearance and had an encore result as he made things 5-0 with his 2nd homer of the game. With his second home run, he become just the 6th player to hit two home runs in a single game against Felix Hernandez.
Patrick Corbin was the counterpart and was dealing after being the recipient of a 4-run lead. 2 strikeouts in the 1st, 2 strikeouts in the 2nd, and a single strikeout in the 3rd put any concerns of a loss out of the question.
He wandered into some trouble in the 4th however as he walked both Kyle Seager and Nelson Cruz to lead things off. A quick 5-pitch strikeout of Franklin Gutierrez gave Corbin his first out of the inning and a grounder by Mark Trumbo to 3rd set things up for a double play, but Trumbo beat it out to keep the Mariners threat alive. Brad Miller made him pay with a liner to left to score the first run of the game for the Mariners and make the score 5-1. But Logan Morrison swung at a first pitch slider to end the threat.
Things were quiet for both sides in the 5th and 6th innings, as Felix and Corbin settled in and just like that Corbin's day was done. After just 80 pitches, Chip Hale pulled Patrick for newly called up Addison Reed. His final line was an efficient 6 IP, giving up only 1 run on 3 hits with 2 BB's and 6 K's.
The 7th was another solid inning as Ender Inciarte singled after a Chad Cliff Pennington line out. A.J Pollock lined a single to center to put runners on 1st and 2nd but unlike the 1st inning, Goldy struck out to give the Mariners two outs and an escape route. Fortunately, David Peralta wasn't so quick to give up, he drove a ball to deep center field and Austin Jackson lost it in the sun to give Peralta a stand up triple, scoring both runners. That would do it for Felix as Lloyd Mcclendon had seen enough. He'd leave with 6.2 IP, 12 H, 7 R, 1BB and 7 K's. Vidal Nuno came on in relief and struck out Jake Lamb for the 3rd out.
Addison came on in relief and promptly did Proven Closer™ type things, allowing a leadoff single but in a surprise, got the next three batters out to strand the runner. But all good things must come to an end, as Reed would allow another leadoff hit, this time a double just off the glove of a diving A.J Pollock in center. After a line out of Seager and strikeout of Cruz, Gutierrez lifted a deep fly ball to center field and like Jackson in the previous inning, A.J would lose it in the sun for a ground rule double and make things 8-2. Old friend Mark Trumbo would end the threat in his usual fashion, with a strike out.
The Dbacks would add one more in the top of the 8th after A.J Pollock lined a single up the middle to score Yasmany Tomas who doubled down the left field line. Josh Collmenter came on in the 9th and pitched a scoreless inning to keep the game and sweep in tact.
Source: FanGraphs
King: Welington Castillo (+16.7%), Patrick Corbin (+12.5%)
Prince: Pretty much everyone
Scum: Chris Owings (-2.0%)
Roll Call Info | |
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Total comments | 774 |
Total commenters | 29 |
Commenter list | AzDbackfanInDc, AzRattler, BenSharp, Clefo, DeadmanG, Fangdango, GuruB, James Attwood, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Mr Butterworth, NumberOneIanKennedyFan31, Oldenschoole, Steven Burt, The_German_Hammer, Xerostomia, asteroid, catbat, danzews7, ford.williams.10, freeland1787, gamepass, hotclaws, noblevillain, onedotfive, piratedan7, preston.salisbury, sepehr3, xmet |
Good turnout for a Wednesday game, probably due to the lack of TV service in Arizona ;) . AzDbackfanInDC led the way with 171 comments, and freeland1787 also topped the leaderboard with 116 comments. Congrats guys. Comment of the thread goes sepehr3 for making fun of Trumbo even when he wasn't on the field.
No game tomorrow but it wouldn't surprise me if the Dbacks were in the trade circles. Come and hang out.