Never say die Dbacks complete comeback against Braves

It started like most games have for the Dbacks lately, with the Braves immediately scoring in the 1st after a Cameron Maybin infield single and Nick Markakis double. Maybin was initially called out on the play, but a successful replay from Fredi Gonzalez turned it into the single. That was all the Braves would get in the 1st however as Rubby de la Rosa struck out Chris Johnson to end the inning.

More of the same in the 2nd inning, with Andrelton Simmons leading things off with a walk. Todd Cunningham singled to right and with Simmons trying to advance, Ender Inciarte made a beautiful throw to third only to have Yasmany Tomas drop the ball as he was making the tag. Mike Foltynewicz sacrificed to Rubby, giving the Dbacks 2 outs and a chance to escape danger only down 1-0. But like most things in life, escaping danger was not in the cards. Jace Peterson walked and Cameron Maybin singled to right scoring two runs and making the score 3-0 with the always dangerous Freddie Freeman up and runners again on the corners. A fastball down the middle and the Braves were up 6-0 in the 2nd inning.

Rubby was visually frustrated out there during this entire inning. He looked to have decent stuff but the home plate umpire sure looked to squeeze him a bit there. I marked 3 times where it was at least a questionable ball/strike call in the 2nd. Another reason could have been Saltalamacchia, who has been awful framing pitches in his short time as a Dback.

The Dbacks would rally in the bottom of the 2nd. With 1 out, Chris Owings hit a high chopper to 3rd and beat the throw for an infield single. Salty singled to right and they both would advance on a passed ball that skirted all the way to the Braves dugout. Cliff Pennington grounded to first to score Owings and make the deficit 6-1. Rubby de la Rosa grounded out to the catcher to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 3rd with 2 outs, Paul Goldschmidt walked and Tomas doubled to put runners at 2nd and 3rd. With his middle finger all healed up, David Peralta stepped up and lined a double into the gap to score both and make the score 6-3.

But Rubby would unravel again, this time with 2 outs and Freddie Freeman up. After pitching him inside in the 2nd, they decided to work out and he made them pay with a drive into the bleachers to make the score 7-3. With Rubby already at a high pitch count and the bullpen tired from overuse, things were looking bleak for the team.

A scoreless 4th for the Dbacks followed and the offense continued to chip away at the lead. A.J Pollock homered in the 5th to make it 7-4, and Aaron Hill single scored Salty after his double in the 6th to make the score 7-5.

With the offense rolling, the bullpen was doing work. J.C Ramirez struck out 2 in a scoreless 6th, Chafin escaped 2 hits in the 7th to keep things scoreless, and Addison Reed was superb, with a perfect 1-2-3 inning in the 8th to keep things close.

After pecking at the lead, the offense exploded. A.J. Pollock doubled to lead off the inning and Paul Goldschmidt smashed a liner up the middle that Peterson snagged to move the runner to 3rd with 1 out. Tomas singled to right center to score Pollock to make the deficit 7-6 with still 1 out. Peralta singled, moving Tomas to 3rd and Owings blooped a ball to short right field to tie things up. Another drive by Salty that was just deep enough to score Peralta. The Braves would challenge the play, but Peralta just beat the throw and give the Dbacks their first lead of the ballgame at 8-7.

After the scoreless inning from Reed, Ahmed pinch hit and walked (!!!). Ender grounded to 2nd base but was hit just weak enough for the Braves to not turn two. The man of the day, A.J Pollock stepped up and hit a grounder to Jim Johnson. With Ahmed running on contact, he was a dead duck at 3rd except for the fact Jim overthrew Chris at 3rd to score Ahmed and give the Dbacks a crucial insurance run at 9-7.

With a 2 run lead, Chip Hale went to Brad Ziegler to close things out and he started the inning with 2 quick groundouts. Like we all know, Brad has a flair for the dramatic and allowed a A.J. Pierzynski homer into the pool area to make it a 9-8 game before getting his 3rd grounder of the inning from Simmons to clinch the victory. Dbacks win!

Source: FanGraphs

Pretty Good: A.J. Pollock (+24.3%)

Good: David Peralta (+19.5%), Chris Owings (+18.6%)

Pretty Bad: Rubby de la Rosa (-37.9%)

Despite it being a day game, lots of people out for this one with freeland1787 (211) and AzDbackfanInDc (140) leading the way. Comment of the day goes to DeadmanG for being completely wrong in the 2nd inning. :)

Come back tomorrow when Matt Harvey faces off against Jeremy Hellickson in the first game of a 4-game series.