Diamondbacks 12, Rockies 5: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The game started off really well.  Archie Bradley was starting for the Diamondbacks, and he had a great first inning. A nice, easy 1-2-3 inning to start things off. It went even better for the offense in the bottom of the inning. AJ Pollock lead it off by getting a single and then advancing to second on an error by Charlie Blackmon. Chris Owings moved him to third with a single of his own. Another single, this time by Paul Goldschmidt, scored Pollock, and sent Owings to second. Kyle Kendrick had still yet to record an out at this point, when he faced Mark Trumbo. True to his emerging form, Trumbo hit a triple, driving in two to make the score 3-0 in the bottom of the first. They weren't able to manage anything else, with David Peralta grounding out softly for the first out, and then Yasmany Tomas grounding into a 5-3 double play, with Trumbo getting tagged out between third and home, after it was reviewed.

It seemed like everything was going so well, and then it wasn't anymore. Justin Morneau hit a lead off double, Nolan Arenando struck out, bringing Carlos Gonzalez to the plate. He took two balls to start the at bat off, and the third pitch he lined straight up the middle, right into Archie's face. He went down. All the trainers and coaching staff went out there, and he stayed on the ground for a good ten minutes. Based off the video, it looks like the ball hit him on the right side of the face in the cheek/jaw area. Slightly positive news, since the probably rules out a concussion or similar injuries. A picture circulating on Twitter shows a huge lump of swelling on his face, roughly the size of a softball, if I had to guess. He eventually left the field under his own power, with a towel over his face, and a thumbs up sign for the fans. An encouraging sign. After the game, Ken Krinshaw had nothing but positive things to say, so hopefully all will be well going forward Obviously we'll have any new updates here on the 'Pit as we get them.

After that, the Dbacks, understandably, didn't seem to be focused on the game for a couple innings. Andrew Chafin came in, and promptly walked Nick Hundley to load the bases. He then scored, thanks to a DJ LeMehieu single, keeping the bases loaded. Then, he got Kendrick to strike out, and Blackmon to ground out, ending the inning. He gave up two more in the fourth to tie the game.

After that, though, the team seemed to snap out of it and take on something of a "win it for Archie" mindset. To lead off the fourth, Trumbo singled. Breaking the tie, David Peralta launched one out of the park, making the score 5-3 in favor of the home team. They kept it going in the sixth, as well, adding three runs thanks to a two-run, TrumBOMB and an Aaron Hill RBI ground out, putting the game well out of reach, despite the Rockies adding a run in the fifth.

It just got funny in the eighth, with RBI doubles from Peralta and Goldy giving the Dbacks a final tally of 12 runs on the night. Addison Reed came in for the ninth and gave up his seemingly obligatory run, making the final score 12-5 in favor of the Diamondbacks.

Of note, the home run left Trumbo a double away from the cycle. He was due up second in the seventh, and hit a blooper that maybe a faster runner could have stretched into a double, but Trumbo stayed at first. That was probably for the best, but I know there were a lot of slightly disappointed people in the GDT. Tomas then proceeded to show Trumbo how to take an extra base by hitting a double and turning it into a triple getting thrown out at third. Oh well, at least it was Tomas' first MLB RBI. That was cool.

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2015-04-28&team=Diamondbacks&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width = "450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2015-04-28&team=Diamondbacks&dh=0&season=2015">FanGraphs</a></span>

Almost historic: Mark Trumbo, 28.2

Not a factor: Andrew Chafin, -9.3

A very bipolar GDT, swinging wildly between being worried about Archie, excited about the game, and everywhere in between, making it difficult to chose a CotN. I'm going to go with this positive one from GuruB about the offense

It was also a fairly active GDT, totaling 737 comments on the night. Skins far and away had the most comments, with 170. Soco and I were in a distant tie for second place with 65, and JoeCB1991 was right behind us with 65. All present were:

4 Corners Fan, Arizona Eyebrows, BIGredmc, BrokeNBattleX, BulldogsNotZags, Clefo, Cold Bleded, DbacksSkins, DeadmanG, GODSCHMIDT, GuruB, James Attwood, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, JoelPre, Makakilo, PhxSunsFan4Life, Robert Merrill, SongBird, Xerostomia, asteroid, bbtng, cheese1213, coldblueAZ, freeland1787, hotclaws, imstillhungry95, luckycc, onedotfive, preston.salisbury, shoewizard, soco, txzona, xmet

Rubber game of the series tomorrow. Same time, same place. Hopefully, it will be a little less dramatic.