Arizona Diamondbacks Game Preview, #35: Rubby Tuesday

Rubby De La Rosa RHP, 3-4, 4.60

Chris Rusin LHP, 1-0, 4.43

Jean Segura - 2B	Charlie Blackmon - CF
Brandon Drury - RF	Trevor Story - SS
Paul Goldschmidt - 1B	Carlos Gonzalez - RF
Welington Castillo - C	Nolan Arenado - 3B
Jake Lamb - 3B	Gerardo Parra - LF
Yasmany Tomas - LF	DJ LeMahieu - 2B
Chris Owings - CF	Ben Paulsen - 1B
Nick Ahmed - SS	Tony Wolters - C
Rubby De La Rosa - RHP	Chris Rusin - LHP

The signing of Michael Bourn to a minor-league contract probably makes a bit more sense now, with the news that David Peralta is going back to Phoenix to see hand specialist Dr. Don Sheridan on Thursday. Peralta hasn't started since the second game in Atlanta, though did come off the bench as a pinch-hitter in the series finale there. However, this does make it sound as if this isn't just regular soreness resulting from being plunked once too often, as the team originally made it sound. Perhaps this was (wise) disinformation, while they scoped out possible alternatives on the waiver wire, and it's perhaps notable this news breaks the same afternoon the news of Bourn's signing is made public.

At least one injured outfielder has returned to the fray, with Tomas back in the line-up after missing several days due to a problem with his neck. That might help reduce the strain on the outfield, which has seen Chip Hale piecing things together over the past few games. But, wait! What's that in the line-up? Jake Lamb? Starting against a left-handed pitcher? What is this sorcery? Must be a bone thrown to the Lamb Brigade, keep 'em quiet for the rest of the month...  It will be Jake's fourth start with a left-hander going for the opposition, against 22 starts against a rightie. The results of Lamb vs LHP have been a bit odd: he's hitting .158, having gone 3-for-19 with 8 K's - but two of his his have been homers, for an .807 OPS.

De La Rosa has had some success at Coors in the past. He started here twice last year, and gave the D-backs a pair of quality starts, allowing a total of four earned runs over 13 innings - a big part of that was, he only walked one batter. Meanwhile, Arizona will have to do a much better job of solving Rusin, who one-hit them over five shutout innings at Chase Field, when they saw him ten days ago. However, Rusin has historically struggled at Coors, with a 5.92 ERA there over his dozen career starts in Denver. Here's to that continuing today, the D-backs winning their fifth in a row and potentially - depending on results elsewhere - moving into a first-place in the NL West.

However, the weather may play a part:

Batting practice has been canceled and the tarp has been unfurled here at Coors Field. No word on a possible delay.

— Nick Piecoro (@nickpiecoro) May 10, 2016

Stay tuned...