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Cactus League record: 9-6-1.
Today's game saw a likely preview of April 6, when the same two teams will face off on Opening Day, with the same two starting pitchers - Josh Collmenter and Madison Bumgarner respectively. And if the results ends up being the same, you won't find any Diamondbacks' fans complaining. Admittedly, the damage today was almost entirely not done against Bumgarner, who left after two innings, having allowed one run on three hits, courtesy of Brandon Drury's third home-run of spring in the second. But it was nice to see Josh Collmenter dominate what looked like close to a full-strength San Francisco line-up.
Collmenter went four scoreless innings, holding the Giants to a pair of hits, both singles, with no walks and three strikeouts, and has yet to allow a run in spring. He was followed by Allen Webster, who had what was easily his best outing of the season, also putting up four zeroes, on three hits and no walks, with a pair of strikeouts. The ninth inning belonged to Enrique Burgos, who immediately blotted his copybook by issuing a walk to the leadoff batter - the first by a Diamondback pitcher today. However, a flyout and double-play ensured he faced the minimum, completing the five-hit shutout
After Drury got us on the boards, we scored two more in the third and two more in the fourth. Drury doubled home the former tallies, while a Chris Owings single, then a catcher's error as he stole second, were responsible for the latter two runs. We then blew the doors off the game in the seventh, doubling our five-run lead to that point. Webster had the big blow, getting some revenge after Drury was plunked in the elbow [as documented elsewhere, there appears to be no lasting damage], by clearing the bases with a three-run double. A two-run triple by Brett Lalli completed a very satisfactory day for the offense.
Drury, Mark Trumbo (now batting .318) and Nick Ahmed each had a pair of hits, while there was a hit and a walk for A.J. Pollock and Cody Ross. Owings, as mentioned, stole a base and there were no errors on the D-backs side. The victory gives the Diamondbacks the spring training series by a margin of four games to one, and we outscored the Giants by twenty-three runs (37-14) over the five contests. .Does it mean anything? Probably not. Is it still better than the other way round? F'sure. Tomorrow, it's back to Salt River Fields, albeit for a "road" game, against our complex cousins from Colorado. Jeremy Hellickson will start for Arizona.