Record: 52-62. Pace: 74-88. Change on last season: -7.
The Diamondbacks continue to handle the New York Mets this year as they drop five runs on old man Hernandez and never looked back. The D-Backs have now won nine of 13 (curse you Washington!), and five of six against the Mets this season. They have hit .291 with 23 homers during the span. This recap was brought to you in part by, Trent Oeltjen, where the cycle nearly happens and every hit makes women swoon. With Max Scherzer on the bump and Trent Oeltjen in the lineup it was pretty much over for the Mets before it began. More to come following the bounce.
Max Scherzer's night began a bit salty after allowing a leadoff double to Cory Sullivan. Thankfully, a sacrifice and back-to-back strikeouts to Fernando Tatis and Daniel Murphy extinguished the threat. Compliments to Jerry Manuel for batting Murphy cleanup! The D-Backs then mirrored the Mets in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff double and a sacrifice but, unlike New York, were able to capitalize on the situation. Gerardo Parra grounded to Alex Cora who couldn't handle the play resulting in the first run of the game. I wasn't able to view tonight's game so I can't provide much more detail than that. No highlights available either. : (
The Mets quickly answered in the top of the second via a Jeff Francoeur bomb to left field. Max settled back down and ousted the next six batters through the second and third innings. Trent Oeltjen then leadoff the bottom of the third with a single. He has now hit safely in all five games since being promoted going 12-for-24 with six runs scored, two doubles, a triple and three homers. Let's not forget all of that snazzy defense he has showed as well.
The third inning did have it's other stars though as Miguel Montero and Alex Romero both drove in runs to help boost Arizona to a 4-1 lead. The Mets, again, quickly answered in the top of the fourth as Alex Cora redeemed himself with an RBI single. The bottom of the fourth belonged to the star of the show though, as Oeltjen notched the only hit and run in the inning. A triple and a sacrifice fly and the Diamondbacks pushed the lead back to three runs, 5-2.
After allowing six hits and five runs our old buddy Liván was history. He was replaced for a pinch hitter in the top of the fifth but to no avail as Mad Max delivered another 1-2-3 inning. Hernandez left with a line of four innings pitched, six hits, five earned runs, three walks, and five strikeouts, raising his ERA to 5.28. The game then passed on slowly with little production from both sides. It should be noted, though, that Oeltjen doubled in the sixth leaving him a homerun shy of the cycle. During the seventh, Max was pulled after allowing singles to Sullivan and Schneider. Scherzer lasted 6.2 innings nearly amassing a career high in pitches with 118. He allowed eight hits, two earned runs, zero walks, and eight strikeouts. Juan Gutierrez was their to back him up and got Luis Castillo to ground out after four pitches.
Ryan Roberts doubled in the seventh, plating the final run in the game. Also noteworthy in the inning was Rusty Ryal's second Major League at-bat. The note, he struck out. OK, maybe not so noteworthy. Trent Oeltjen received a standing ovation in the bottom of the eighth as he was only a homerun shy of they cycle in only his fifth Major League game. He didn't get the homerun but he did snag a single. He ended the day going 4-4 while tagging home plate twice. I like this guy.
Esmerling Vasquez finished off the final two innings without allowing a hit. The end of the game reportedly sent New York Mets fans in a serious panic frenzy. What's the big fuss about? If Arizona wins tomorrow's game, they will have a better record than the Mets. Yikes! Like I said earlier in the recap, I wasn't able to watch tonight's game so I apologize for the poor analysis. On to the charts!
The baseball equivalent of [insert bad thing]: Mark Reynolds, -9.3%
Although Trent scored two runs, the lack of RBIs prevented him from making the list. Oeltjen and Romero were the only D-Backs with a multi-hit game as Romero knocked two and Trent with four. Parra and Romero each had a pair of RBIs while Ryan Roberts and Montero accounted for the remaining two. Mark Reynolds, as seen on the fangraph, was the lone man out and did not reach base while striking out three times.
The Gameday thread took care of itself this evening with a hefty 872 posts. As long as Trent is in the lineup I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of this. Skins dominated breaking Mach 3 on his keyboard as he finished with over 210 posts. kishi, soco, and snakecharmer then followed respectively all breaking triple digits. The entire lineup was, snakecharmer, DbacksSkins, soco, kishi, IHateSouthBend, 4 Corners Fan, Azreous, sayheyupton, sergey606, mrssoco, Fiona, Jim McLennan, hotclaws, luckycc, Muu, AJforAZ, piratedan7, katers, ZonaBacks10, drvnlow, Zephon.
Matinee game tomorrow at 12:40 PM as Jon Garland (6-10) takes on Oliver "Walk Machine" Pérez (2-3). Both pitchers are coming off of respectable starts so we'll see who comes out on top.
[Update] Post-game comments from Max and - of course - Trent. That'll keep the Oeltjeenies happy! :-)
Audio courtesy of KTAR 620