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Snake Bytes, 4/30: The Story remains the same edition

Home-runs? At Chase? By the Rockies? Shurely shome mishtake....

By Jim McLennan

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Was this an omen?
Was this an omen?
Norm Hall/Getty Images
Recaps

[AZ Central] Another short outing for Robbie Ray in loss - The story, according to Hale: Ray’s continuing inability to throw strikes. Ray needed 64 pitches just to get through three innings. "He threw so many pitches again," Hale said. "It brought back a lot of memories of last year, the amount of pitches he threw. You knew he was going to get maybe five innings at the most, six if we were lucky. He wasn’t locating any off-speed pitches No. 1, and No. 2 the pitches that are hit were up. It’s that simple. They (the Rockies) obviously like swinging the bat in this ballpark and if you don’t locate your pitches they’re going to hit them."

[Arizona Sports] Trevor Story, Rockies beat up on D-backs' Robbie Ray - With his first-inning walk, Paul Goldschmidt reached base safely for a 39th consecutive game against the Rockies, setting a club record against any opponent. Goldschmidt finished with a pair of walks and leads the league with 25. Of the D-backs’ five hits, two belonged to Chris Owings, who doubled to center in each of his first two plate appearances and momentarily raised his average to .299. He flew out to center later in the seventh inning and finished 2-for-3, putting his average at .294. Over his last 11 games, Owings is batting .378 (14-for-37) with four RBI.

[dbacks.com] D-backs' Robbie Ray allows 4 HRs vs. Rockies - "I felt great," Ray said. "Physically I felt strong. Coming into this game I felt ready." When did that change? "I really didn't feel a change," he said. "Just left a few pitches over the plate and they took advantage of it." While Ray's fastball was good, he wasn't able to locate his offspeed pitches, which made him predictable. "My changeup, I wasn't able to throw for strikes," Ray said. "It was kind of down and they weren't swinging at it. Even though it was a good pitch tonight, I wasn't getting the swings on it, they were just laying off it."

Team news

[AZ Central] Stewart: Field no factor in struggles - "There’s no panic here," Stewart said. "I know Zack Greinke is going to be fine. I know Shelby Miller is going to be fine. When both those guys get on track there’s going to be some issues for the rest of the league." That’s bold talk for a rotation that had an ERA of 5.93 heading into Thursday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals and only eight quality starts in 23 games. But Stewart is convinced his two biggest off-season acquisitions will soon pitch the way he expects them to. "It’s a sigh of relief it’s April. We’re fortunate we’re not out of the race this early in the season," he said. "There’s time to right the ship."

[Examiner] Diamondbacks find spots for Drury's hot bat - Coming into Friday’s game with the Rockies at home, Drury was hitting .311 on the season, but .385 in his last 10 games. In National League rookie rankings, he is second in doubles, tied for third in extra base hits, tied for fifth in hits and tied for sixth in RBIs. For his part, Drury seems low-key, and dedicated to the daily regiment and structure of playing every day in the major leagues. "Where I play doesn’t matter," he said. "At the end of the day, it’s baseball, and you’re in the box. The game comes down hitting, and I’m trying to get better every day."

[NumberFire] Rubby De La Rosa May Have Finally Turned the Corner - As he's been throughout his career, expect De La Rosa to continue to be inconsistent from start to start, but his last two starts suggest he may have perhaps turned a corner to a new level he has yet to show on a start-to-start basis. If he continues a strikeout per nine innings rate of 10.65 and a WHIP of just 1.10, its hard to see him regressing far from his nERD ranking of 55. Maybe the team just needs to keep letting him wear the retro jerseys.

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks' relievers steady in late-game situations - "It’s nice to kind of know and have an idea of when you’re going to throw just because you can get in sort of a routine down there," Hudson said. "You know you’re going to start stretching at certain times and start getting ready. You can kind of follow your way through the lineup and have an idea of who you’re going to face. I think that helps a lot. We’ve been lucky enough to throw the ball pretty well early on. It’s been good."

[dbacks.com] D-backs reporter Steve Gilbert snags foul ball - Late in the game between the Rockies and the D-backs, a foul ball made its way toward the press box behind home plate. The ball caromed off the front ledge of the press box and bounced off the wall behind Gilbert. The veteran reporter caught it with one hand and handed it off to the reporter sitting next to him, all in one motion. He remained stoic the entire play. It was Gilbert's best press-box catch in a more than a decade, and he's been sitting on press row at Chase Field since the ballpark opened.

[Cronkite] Suns, Coyotes, Diamondbacks wandering in the desert - The Suns have told the city they will seek a new home when their lease at downtown's Talking Stick Resort Arena ends in 2022. They moved into the arena in 1992. The Coyotes, whose lease is up next year, have had tense relations for years with the city of Glendale, to the point the team almost broke its lease and left the state several times in the past few years. They want a new arena as well and are looking elsewhere. The Diamondbacks saw their discontent with Maricopa County, which owns Chase Field, bubble over in the past month, leading to public disagreements and a course seemingly set for litigation.

And finally, a throwback to happier times, e.g. Thursday. GIFs of all 10 of Rubby De La Rosa's strikeouts against the Cardinals. Even if the author does manage to mix up his De La Rosa's!

And, elsewhere...[The Twitter edition]

The NL West, collectively, are 17-27 outside the division.

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