Game #159: Diamondbacks @ Twins

Vidal Nuno LHP, 0-6, 3.78

Phil Hughes RHP, 15-10, 3.61

Ender Inciarte - LF	Danny Santana - CF
A.J. Pollock - CF	Brian Dozier - 2B
Jake Lamb - 3B	Trevor Plouffe - 3B
Mark Trumbo - DH	Kennys Vargas - 1B
David Peralta - RF	Kurt Suzuki - C
Jordan Pacheco - 1B	Oswaldo Arcia - RF
Didi Gregorius - SS	Josmil Pinto - DH
Bobby Wilson - C	Aaron Hicks - LF
Cliff Pennington - 2B	Eduardo Escobar - SS

Two things of note today. Barring something very odd in the final series, Wilson will become the 7th position player to start exactly once in a season for the D-backs. He'll follow Mike Robertson (1998), Jason Smith (2007), Jamie d'Antona and Josh Whitesell (2008), Konrad Schmidt (2012) and, potentially Brett Jackson, who also has started one game this year. It's more common with pitchers, having been done 13 times.. Those are a mix of "Who's he?" e.g. Kevin Jarvis, trade bait (Jarrod Parker, David Holmberg) and sad, injury-related events, the most obvious bein Brandon Webb's 2009 campaign. Zeke Spruill should join the list this year.

But, more importantly, it's also Nuno's last chance to avoid a winless season with the D-backs, and become the first pitcher in National League history to make 14 starts in a year without a single victory. He's currently tied with George 'Stump' Wiedman, who went 0-9 in 13 starts for the 1880 Buffalo Bisons, as a 19-year old rookie. However, Wiedman did go on to a fairly respectable career, winning over 100 times by its end in 1888. He also played 122 times as an outfielder, though with a career .412 OPS [bad even for the offense-limited era, working out as an OPS+ of 29], he was a better pitcher than a hitter.