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Diamondbacks 7, Braves 6: A Roller Coaster of a Game

Tonight marked a showdown between a pitcher that has been struggling to reach his past form, Josh Collmenter, against a pitcher who is easily the best on his team right now, Shelby Miller. In the end, it wasn't decided by either of them.

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The top of the first started out well enough with Jace Peterson putting up a quick, one pitch out by hitting a bunt ground out to Paul Goldschmidt. Andrelton Simmons followed that up with a strike out to give Josh Collmenter two easy outs to work with. Then, the Braves started making him work a bit early on. Freddy Freeman hit a singleon the tenth pitch of his at bat, and then stole second during Nick Markakis' at bat. Markakis saw seven pitches, and then brought Freeman home with a double to put the Braves up 1-0 in the first.

The Dbacks went quietly in the second, with their only baserunner being thanks to Goldschmidt drawing a walk. The Braves were just as quiet in the top of the second, their only baserunner coming thanks to a bloop, two out single that Collmenter quickly stranded.

The bottom of the second wasn't nearly was quick, however. Tomas started it off by flying out to center for the first out, but Jordan Pacheco singled, and Owings got on base thanks to a walk. Nick Ahmed hit into a fielder's choice, Owings out at second, Pacheco to third. That brought up Collmenter with two outs. He drew a walk to load the bases with two outs, to bring up Ender Inciarte. On the first pitche he saw, he hit a hard single to right field, scoring Pacheco and Ahmed and sending Collmenter to third. They weren't done yet, though. A. J. Pollock loaded the bases again with a single, bringing up Paul Goldschmidt. Shelby Miller walked him, sending a run home and keeping the bases loaded. Now, honestly, it was probably a pitcher who had been struggling with his control issuing another walk, but it looked to my biased eyes like he was pitching around him, so that's what I'm going to believe :-) 3-1 Dbacks. Trumbo came to the plate with the bases still loaded, but two outs. He ended up hitting a ball about as far as he could to straightaway center field without actually hitting it out to end the inning.

The top of the third started off with a somewhat scary moment. Jace Peterson hit a foul ball to left field and Ender Inciarte. He made a great, diving, headfirst catch that sent him sliding towards the wall. The security guard that was standing there didn't get out of the way fast enough, and Inciarte ended up plowing straight into the guard's calf. He completed the catch, but stayed seated on the warning track for a few minutes with the trainers and a few of his teammates before they elected to keep him in the game. He then ended the inning two batters later with another great catch, this time without bodily harm.

The Dbacks were mostly quiet in the third through fifth innings, though they did add a run in the fourth. That was thanks to an RBI ground out from Pollock that scored Ahmed, but they weren't really setting the world on fire.

In the sixth inning, though, things kind of melted down for the Diamondbacks. He gave up a lead off bunt single to Peterson, a one out force out traded Peterson form Freeman at first. Markakis doubled to send Freeman to third, and bounced Collmenter from the game. J. C. Ramirez came in and immediately walked Juan Uribe to load the bases with two outs. A. J. Pierzynski singled to score Freeman and Markakis, bringing the Braves within a run, and they weren't done yet. Jonny Gomes doubled to score Uribe and tie the game at four. That was it for Ramirez's night, and Hale pulled him in favor of Andrew Chafin. Who immediately gave up a double to Todd Cunningham to score Pierzynski and Gomes to put the Braves up by two. 6-4, Braves.

The offense would slowly claw their way back, though.They got back within one thanks to a Yasmany Tomas single that brought home Ender Inciarte. The final blow came after Inciarte walked in the seventh, and A. J. Pollock smashed a ball into the pool for a two-run homerun. 7-6 Dbacks.

That was the final score. Daniel Hudson and Brad Ziegler pitched the eighth and ninth innings respectively, and both put up zeros to finish the game off.

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=wins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2015-06-02&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/wins.aspx?date=2015-06-02&team=Diamondbacks&dh=0&season=2015">FanGraphs</a></span>

Kevin Conroy's Batman: A. J. Pollock, 40.8%

Christian Bale's Batman: Ender Inciarte, 32.3%

George Clooney's Batman: J. C. Ramirez, -36.7%

Adam West's Batman: Mark Trumbo, -18.8%

Another busy Tuesday night GDT, with 747 comments at time of writing. Leading the way was freeland1787 with 123, and preston.salisbury right behind him with 121. All present were

COTN goes to ford.williams10, in the discussion about whether or not the rest of the team would make opponents pay for walking Goldy:

This is the problem when you have an offensive team made up of Goldy and the 7 dwarves...

An early game tomorrow, with a 12:40 Arizona time start. Rubby De La Rosa faces off against Mike Foltynewicz. Glad he isn't on the Dbacks. That almost makes Salty's name look normal... Anyway, see you then!