Snake Bytes: 6/12: The perfect comeback

Recaps

[FOX Sports] D-backs rally in 6th to beat Marlins ace Fernandez - Michael Bourn homered for the first time in two seasons to start a four-run sixth inning and the Diamondbacks ended Fernandez's streak of eight consecutive victories. Bourn hadn't homered since July 14, 2014. "He picked a real good time to do it," Arizona manager Chip Hale said, "against a real good pitcher who had really, really good stuff tonight. It was amazing. Guys just had good at-bat after good at-bat." "Me and Goldy were talking after that inning," Jake Lamb said. "It's probably the best half-inning we've had all year."

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks rebound from tough loss with rousing win - Jake Lamb sensed the mood in the dugout, and he figured someone might as well acknowledge what was happening and say what everyone was thinking. So when the bottom of the sixth inning began, he turned to a teammate and stated the obvious. "I was kind of just joking around like, ‘Hey, I think he’s got a perfect game going,’" Lamb said, referring to Marlins right-hander Jose Fernandez. "It’s funny how baseball works." What happened after that was further proof that baseball often times does not make a whole lot of sense.

[dbacks.com] D-backs' 4-run rally ends Fernandez's perfecto bid - Bourn started Arizona's four-run rally in the sixth with a two-out homer to right. It was the D-backs' first of five consecutive hits in a momentum-shifting rally. Bourn, who only has 32 homers in 11 seasons, hadn't gone deep since July 5, 2014, when he was with Cleveland. "I'm never thinking about hitting a home run, I usually just run it to them," Bourn said. "It had been a while, I had a goose egg last year and I was like, 'Man, I ain't had a goose egg ever in my career and I had a goose egg.' But I was able to get one and it felt good."

[Arizona Sports] D-backs get best of Jose Fernandez - Zack Godley put together a solid outing in his first appearance of the season at the major league level. Godley worked six innings, giving up two runs on four hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Godley’s career record has improved to 6-1 going back to last season and he has four quality starts out the seven games he’s started. "We didn’t do a great job, it just happened to be one-half inning or a third of a half-inning. Fortunately, the pitching did a great job, Zack did a great job," said Paul Goldschmidt

Team News

[AZ Central] Stewart: D-Backs pitchers have ‘underachieved’ - "We should definitely be better, there’s no doubt about that. I don’t think it’s any surprise that I am disappointed in the way that we’re pitching. I would imagine that at some point this is all going to pull together and the end result is going to be good. As you know, time is moving on; it’s not waiting for us, that’s for sure. We have to pitch better. We have to do better for our team to win. I think the right group of guys is there. It’s tough to explain. They’re there, they’re just not getting the job done. I don’t think that evaluating our staff as a whole, I don’t think that we were wrong on that. They just are not getting the job done."

[Arizona Sports] D-backs make multiple local selections on day 3 of MLB Draft - RHP Kevin Ginkel out of the University of Arizona was selected by the D-backs in the 22nd round. It was the third time that Ginkel was drafted. He was selected previously in the 16th round in 2014 and the 26th round in 2015. Coming into the Super Regionals Ginkel had an ERA of 2.82 and a record of 4-1. Another local pick by the D-backs was straight out of high school. Mountain Ridge High School shortstop Cameron Cannon was the D-backs’ selection in the 21st round. The Arizona Wildcat commit hit .353 with six home runs and 21 RBI in his senior season.

[AZ Central] Owings lands on disabled list - When he tested it out on the field prior to Friday’s game, the hope was that he would feel good enough to be a candidate to return to the lineup on Saturday. "(We were) hoping it would turn a corner, but it kind of stayed the same," Owings said. "I’m just going to take these next couple of days and let it calm down a little bit more and that way it’s not an issue the rest of the season." Owings said he had felt discomfort in his right foot for much of the season, but he and the club’s training staff had managed it well enough that he was able to play through it. But in recent days, the left foot has become the bigger problem.

[dbacks.com] D-backs land hard-to-find talent in Draft - "Lots of power bats and I think we got some power arms, too," Ladnier said. "Those two things are hard to find." This year Ladnier had a little more freedom to draft for upside, and he wound up with eight high schoolers and eight junior college players. "I really think we got younger and we got stronger as an organization," Ladnier said. "Last year we took a lot of college guys, and that was by design. This year we took who we felt like was the best player at every place that we took them and we got younger and more athletic."

[AZ Centra] Corbin wants coaches to ‘show trust in starter’ - "I just left a slider to Stanton," Corbin said. "I think the bullpen got up right after that. I thought I had to maybe bear down a little bit and almost pitch around guys, trying to throw perfect pitches. I don’t know. It’s tough to go out there when you give up a hit – you just want some trust in you. Maybe show some trust in the starter that they can work their way out of that." Corbin said that because of the movement in the bullpen he felt he had to prevent Stanton from scoring in order to remain in the game. His pitch count at that point was at 82.

And, elsewhere

[Arizona Desert Swarm] Hale has a message for the Wildcats - The University of Arizona are going to the College World Series after a walk-off win on Saturday. and alumni Hale is looking forward to that. "I want to congratulate the University of Arizona baseball team. Jay Johnson, great job. I watched the game tonight. Exciting comeback. Another trip to Omaha. It's close to my heart, all those years back going to Omaha and winning the National Championship. We'll be rooting for you and we're all really, really proud of you."

[Baseball Prospectus] The State of the Closer - Slowly, they’ve pretty much all gone back to the way closers are always used, if they ever strayed at all. The closers-by-committee in spring training become Proven Closers by the second save; the tandems get broken up when one sucks or gets traded; the converted starter slowly forgets that he knows how to get four outs at a time and ends up in the same old rigid role. [Food for thought for those - including me - who want to see more flexible bullpen roles. Why is it ALWAYS abandoned when tried?]

[ESPN] Milwaukee Brewers to introduce new style of nachos suggested by 10-year-old fan - Tyler Webb of Strum suggested using blue corn tortilla chips with nachos instead of the traditional yellow chips. Tyler's family was eating nachos at home when they ran out of yellow corn chips, so they started using blue corn chips, the Leader-Telegram reported. "I noticed that the blue chips and yellow cheese were Brewers colors, and they should sell them at Miller Park," Tyler said Friday while wearing a Brewers outfit. [Sedona Red hotdogs incoming in 3...2...]