SnakeBytes, 5/10: Meltdown edition

Recaps

[AZ Central] McCarthy baffled as bad 4th inning brings loss to White Sox - "He was cruising, man," catcher Miguel Montero said. "He was really good. I was like, wow, this guy is throwing a heck of a game right now because he was making pitch after pitch and then it just happened. The wheels came off and they got contagious that inning hitting. And they were pretty much unstoppable, to be honest."

[dbacks.com] D-backs can't overcome costly fourth, drop opener - "I have no idea," McCarthy said when asked about what happened in the fourth. "Even after four or five innings to sit down here and think about it, I really don't know. I don't know if they changed their approach and got super aggressive; I was throwing a lot of strikes. They just started jumping on everything. "Even looking back on it, they're not terrible pitches. They're not anything different than what I was doing in the first three innings. The same approach, it's just, I don't know. I don't know how you can get nine hits out of 10 hitters when I felt like I was doing the things I needed to do."

[ArizonaSports] White Sox rout D-backs with fourth inning explosion - Brandon McCarthy, and the Arizona Diamondbacks, for that matter, looked like he might have turned a corner. He recorded 18 strikeouts in his last two starts -- going seven innings in both. And he looked the same Friday. At least during his first time through the Chicago White Sox batting order, when he struck out five of the nine batters he faced. Then his season earned run average jumped up a run. In an inning.

Team News

[CSN Chicago] Addison Reed understands why White Sox traded him - "That’s what happens when things go bad," Reed said. "You’ve got to make some changes and I don’t remember how many people were traded... Once it happened it happened and I came to spring training and that was the end of it. I met all of the new guys and was ready to roll. I didn’t take it personal, didn’t think that it was my fault. They needed a guy who could play third base and Davidson, he’s a heck of a player. He’s really good. I didn’t take it personal. I didn’t think it was my fault. It was just a trade and I’m glad to be here now."

[dbacks.com] Former D-back Eaton settling in with White Sox - The D-backs won't get to see Adam Eaton in the White Sox lineup this weekend -- he's on the disabled list with a right hamstring injury -- but he did get a chance to say hi to his former mates before batting practice Friday. "It's been going well," Eaton said. "I've really enjoyed the transition. Coming back to the Midwest, it's kind of felt like coming home. I've enjoyed my time thus far. Good guys in the clubhouse, front office has been great, I couldn't ask for a better team to transition to."

[Star Local] Bolsinger eyeing return to majors after performance against childhood team - When [his mother] Mary made the trip to Wrigley, she was joined by over forty friends and family members, who, on any other day at the ball park, would be rooting for the home team. "You’ve never seen a bunch of people that loved the Cubs, root for the Diamondbacks," Mary said. "I had a Wrigley Field sweatshirt on and a Diamondbacks’ jacket on." But with her son on the mound, there was no question which team she was backing. "I cheered for the Diamondbacks, and I’m Catholic, I made the sign of the cross saying, ‘God forgive me’," Mary said.

[AL.com] Shortstop Sean Jamieson ascending with Mobile BayBears - In the past 16 games, Jamieson has batted .333 with six doubles, one triple, one home run, seven RBIs and a .509 slugging percentage. "I'm feeling pretty good right now," Jamieson said. "I know the first couple of weeks were a little bit of an adjustment, getting used to the league and how pitchers are pitching you and still kind of getting my timing down and getting my swing figured out a little bit. But right now, I'm feeling pretty good at the plate, feeling pretty confident, and things are working for me."

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks release Meo - The Diamondbacks released right-hander Anthony Meo, the club's second-round pick in the 2011 draft. General Manager Kevin Towers said Meo's velocity was down (86-88 mph range), his command was poor and he had trouble staying healthy. "We felt there were probably a lot of people in front of him and there probably wasn't a spot for him to get the innings he probably needed," Towers said.

And, elsewhere...

[ESPN] Yu Darvish falls one out shy of no-hitter - The Japanese ace fell one out shy of a no-hitter for the second time Friday night, giving up only a ninth-inning single to David Ortiz in the Texas Rangers' 8-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Rookie second baseman Rougned Odor, positioned in shallow right field, made a diving attempt but the ball was out of his reach. If the Rangers had not shifted their infield -- a standard practice against Ortiz -- it probably would have been a routine grounder to second.

[NYTimes.com] The National Pastime, Amid a National Crisis - This is one of the earliest photographs ever taken of a baseball game, and it happened by accident. The photographer, Henry P. Moore, of Concord, N.H., was focusing on the well-uniformed Union soldiers of the 48th New York State Volunteer Infantry, but he also captured their baseball-playing comrades in the background.

[Grantland] The Best, Most Devastating Pitches of the Year: A GIF Roundup - From fastballs to sliders - and the knuckleball winner isn't who you think it might be! Obviously, this one is rather GIF heavy, so probably should not be visited on your phone...

[ESPN] The game's bases are a hazard to player health - "Players might be safe when they reach them, but they're not safe attempting to arrive. The recent list of seemingly irresistible names losing out to the immovable objects known as first, second and third is unfairly long." But there are options, as I mentioned over the winter.

[MLB.com] Yasiel Puig takes a pitch instead of calling time, launches a homer to deep center and then exchanges words with Madison Bumgarner - Classy Dodgers being classy...