Record: 7-6. Home: 3-3. Away: 4-3
No birthdays on the Diamondbacks past or present rosters again. However, a shout-out goes to Antonio Alfonseca, who was born on this day in 1972. He's the owner of one of my favorite baseball nicknames, "El Pulpo" or "The Octopus", because he possesses six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. Which is pretty cool.
- 1998. The first ever doubleheader in franchise history happened on this day, as they split two games in St. Louis after a postponement the previous day. They lost the opener 5-4, despite handily outhitting the Cardinals 11-5; Joel Adamson took the loss, allowing all five runs in six innings. Arizona bounced back to take the nightcap 8-2, behind a complete game from Andy Benes, the second in franchise history. Devon White had four hits and drove in three.
- 2003. It has been a while since the D-backs have on this date at Chase - nine years, in fact. This was the last victory, and it took a serious comeback, Arizona scoring three in the ninth to beat the Rockies and their closer, Jose Jimenez, 4-3. David Delluci tied things up, delivering a two-run single with one out to tie the game, and the next batter up, Luis Gonzalez got a walk-off hit, singling home Craig Counsell. Miguel Batists allowed two runs, one earned, over six innings.
- 2005: The Arizona Diamondbacks signed Kerry Ligtenberg as a free agent. Ligtenberg had been good. Indeed, from 1998-2003, he was among the best relievers in baseball. But when the end came, it came quickly. He went 1-6 with a 6.38 ERA for the Blue Jays in 2004 and was worse still for Arizona, posting a 13.97 ERA. That was mostly the result of consecutive outings where he allowed 12 ER over 2.2 innings, including three homers. By the end of May, he had pitched his last game in the majors.
- 2011. Last year, Arizona went down 5-3 to San Francisco at Chase. We had a 3-2 lead after five innings, but Joe Saunders couldn't hold it, allowing a run in the sixth, and two more in the seventh. However, both scored after he left the game, Sam Demel allowing a bases-loaded single rather than getting the final out. The D-backs were held to six hits, two of them by Melvin Mora. Remember him?