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April 11: 6-0 vs. Dodgers. Bradley debut, beating Kershaw
The Diamondbacks had opened the season series with a 10-inning walk-off win over LA the previous day, and followed up with the long-anticipated debut of Archie Bradley, going up against the reigning Cy Young champ, Clayton Kershaw. A shutout was no surprise - but that it was for Arizona was a marvelous surprise, Bradley, Brad Ziegler and Randall Delgado combining to two-hit the reigning NL West champions. A.J. Pollock went 3-for-3 with a walk, and Paul Goldschmidt drove three, including a two-run shot off Kershaw in the seventh that ended the pitcher's day. The D-backs ended the day above .500!
May 22: 5-4 vs. Cubs. 13-inning walk-off, Goldie's last strike home-run
It took eight relievers for the Diamondbacks to pull this off, seven of them combining for 7.2 shutout innings. The eighth was Addison Reed, who retired one of five batters faced in the tenth inning, as the Cubs scored twice to take a 4-2 lead. With two outs and no-one on, it looked over, but a Pollock double was followed by Goldschmidt's last-strike two-run game-tying blast, and the Diamondbacks were reborn. Three innings later, Nick Ahmed singled home Tuffy Gosewisch for another walk-off. A.J. and Goldie combined to go 7-for-11 with a walk, while Ahmed also had three hits and drove in a pair.
June 3: 9-8 vs. Braves. First comeback from six down since 2012
Atlanta put up a five-spot on Rubby De La Rosa in the second inning, to take a 6-0 lead over Arizona, and our WP sunk as low as 7.1% in the bottom of that frame. The Diamondbacks showed impressive fortitude, scoring in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings to pull themselves back into this, before a three-run seventh inning gave the home team a lead that they just managed to hang onto over the remaining two frames. Yasmany Tomas had three hits and scored twice, while De La Rosa hung around through five innings after his meltdown frame. The Fangraph for this one was particularly fun, led by Pollock's +24.4%.
June 12: 1-0 vs. Giants. Anderson outduels MadBum; combined two-hitter
The tensest game of the season saw another David vs. Goliath match-up, Chase Anderson taking on Madison Bumgarner in San Francisco. Ender Inciarte singled home the game's first and only run in the second inning, despite the D-backs piling up 11 hits - three of them with runners in scoring position! - and 4 walks. The 15 base-runners was the most in a regulation game where they scored just once, since 2009, but it was enough for Anderson who allowed one hit over seven innings, before turning the ball over to Daniel Hudson and Brad Ziegler, who completed the two-hit shutout. Welington Castillo had three hits for the Diamondbacks.
August 23: 4-0 vs. Reds. Overcoming Mount .500
H/T to Preston for suggesting this one, which saw the team finally overcome the jinx which had seen them hover at or just below .500 for what seemed like forever [Over the previous 107 games, Arizona had been between zero and four games under even for 93 of them!] But they had taken the first three games in Cincinnati to claw back to .500, and Anderson, Addison Reed and Matt Reynolds combined on a five-hitter, with home-runs from David Peralta and Castillo providing the bulk of the offense. The victory put us just five games back of the Dodgers, and likely marked the high-water point of the 2015 season for the Diamondbacks.