Dbacks 3, Giants 0: Ray Secures Series Split

Robbie Ray had a spot of trouble to start off the game. He did get two outs to start things off, with Denard Span and Joe Panik lining out and grounding out to the middle infield respectively. However, he walked Buster Posey on four straight pitches, and then Hunter Pence hit the first pitch he saw for a single. The threat was eliminated after catcher Trevor Brown grounded out to Jean Segura at second to end the inning.

After the first inning, Ray really settled down. He sat down the side in order in the second. In the third, he did give up a one out walk, but it was easily erased after two force outs ended the inning. The problem was that as good as Ray was, Matt Cain was doing well also. By some measures, he was doing even better, since he didn't allow a hit through four. That was slightly misleading, however, since he also gave up four walks, one intentional, over the same stretch. Either way, the Diamondbacks weren't getting anything done against him.

That all changed in the fifth. Chris Owings hit the first ball he saw for a double to lead off the inning. He was then moved to third after Ray bunted him over. Segura brought him home with a single, and he was, in turn, brought home by a Jake Lamb triple. Paul Goldschmidt was up next. He didn't continue the hit parade, but he was still productive and got Jake home with a sacrifice fly for the second out. That wasn't it, though. David Peralta and Yasmany Tomas both singled, chasing Cain from the game. To recap, Cain went from throwing a no hitter, to having given up five hits, three runs, and still responsible for two runners in 2/3 of an inning. To say the wheels came off is a bit of an understatement, but it was great to see the Dbacks take advantage.

Mike Broadway was brought on for the Giants, and he finished the inning by striking out Wellington Castillo. The damage was done, however, and Arizona left the inning with a three run lead, a stark turnaround from the no hitter they had been experiencing before hand.

Ray didn't exactly have the shut down inning one would hope to get after taking the lead like that, but he did get the job done, keeping the Giants scoreless in the end. He hit Span with a pitch. He took his base and then took third as well on a Panik single. After a replay review that overturned the call on the field, Panik successfully stole second as Posey was striking out, putting runners on second and third with two outs. Hunter Pence then did probably the worst thing he could have done and hit a ball near Nick Ahmed to end the inning. 3-0 Dbacks

Ray closed out his night with a fairly easy sixth inning, giving up a two out single to Matt Duffy, who stayed right there at first. The bullpens would take it from there, with both starters out of the game. Both sides did a good job, holding the score where it was for both teams. Tyler Clippard came in to get the save. It wasn't the prettiest save, but he got the job done and finished the game off.

Source: FanGraphs

Good baseball: Robbie Ray, 28%

Bad Baseball: Jake Lamb: 14.8%

No Baseball: Nick Ahmed -9.9%

DbacksSkins lead the way with 124 comments tonight. Trailing behind were freeland1787 and BenSharp, with 80 and 72 respectively. All totaled 720 comments and all present were:

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The most rec'd comment was essentially a that's what he said joke, so no COTD tonight. Join us again tomorrow for Bumgarner V. Grienke as the Dbacks go for the series win!