Diamondbacks 7, Giants 3: Are you Greinke in Disguise?

Record 21-6-3. Change on 2015: +7.5

With Robbie Ray pitching in a minor-league game, rather than facing a divisional rival, the Diamondbacks turned to Kyle Drabek to face the San Francisco Giants in Scottsdale. And for someone with a 5.27 major-league ERA., he did rather better than expected, holding them to one run over four inning, on four hits and a pair of walks. Admittedly, he didn't strike out anyone, but given he was up against a virtually full-strength San Francisco line-up for the duration of his outing tonight, you can't argue with the final results. Drabek also helped himself out by picking Brandon Belt off second-base.

Thereafter, it was a procession of relievers, most of whom pitched fairly well, and the decision on the last bullpen spot still seems little clearly. Jake Barrett did allow a couple of hits and Silvino Bracho loaded the bases, but both men escaped without allowing a run. Evan Marshall and Andrew Chafin also tossed scoreless frames, the former perhaps being the most impressive,. facing the minimum in the eighth. We went into the bottom of the ninth with a six-run lead, but Jose Cisnero and Matt Stites conspired to get the tying run to the plate, despite only allowing one hit between them, thanks to three walks and a hit batter, before Stites got the final out.

The offense wasted no time in taking the lead, Jean Segura opening the top of the first inning with his third home-run of the season. He got two more hits, to keep his spring average over .500, and Chris Owings also had a pair of knocks. Jake Lamb reached base safely three times, with a hit and two bases on ball, while Socrates Brito and David Peralta each had a hit and a walk. Rickie Weeks Jr came off the bench in the ninth inning for his first homer of spring. Owings had a stolen-base; Segura didn't, and it wasn't a night to look at the peripherals, with our pitchers giving out six walks while fanning only four.

I know it's only spring, but I do like the fact that we were undefeated in our four games against the Giants this spring, going 3-0 with one tie. Curiously, the Rockies are the only team against whom we have a losing Cactus League record, being 1-2, with two games left to play. The first of those is tomorrow at Salt River Fields. In theory, this should see the real Zack Greinke pitching for us, in his final appearance before Opening Day next Monday. But the way we've been scheduling things of late, who can say?