Diamondbacks 2, Giants 4: Weirdness ensues

Record: 38-51. Pace: 69-93. Change on 2015: -4.

Both pitchers had issues in a first inning which took half an hour to complete, each leaving men on first and second base after some long battles. Jake Peavy took 26 pitches to get his three outs. Robbie Ray then went two pitches further in getting his trio, though in Ray's defense, they were all by the strikeout. That was very much the pattern for Ray early on: effectively wild, rather than wildly effective, and certainly not efficiently wild. We saw that in the second inning where he threw only one strike in his first eight pitches, walking the lead-off man then falling behind 3-0 to the next. But he then recovered to get a strike 'em out, throw 'em out double-play, with help from Tuffy Gosewisch.

Of the first 12 batters he faced, only was retired on a ball in play, Ray striking out six batters. However, after fanning the first two in the third inning, he allowed a single, then Triples Alley lived up to its name, allowing San Francisco to take the lead. The Diamondbacks struck back quickly. Peavy had settled down after his early struggles, needing only ten pitches in the second and seven in the third. He'd thrown more than that in the fourth inning without recording an out. Paul Goldschmidt started things off with a double, then Jake Lamb, Yasmany Tomas and Brandon Drury followed with singles.

Tomas and Drury each drove in a run, giving the Diamondbacks a 2-1 lead, and getting the Giants' bullpen up in a hurry, with two on and no outs. Unfortunately, the bottom of the order were not able to get it done. Tuffy Gosewisch and Nick Ahmed flew out, then Ray grounded out, without the visitors being able to take further advantage. The momentum lost then shifted back quickly to the Giants, starting with the contender below for embarrassing moment of the year., as Jake Lamb completely lost track of a high pop-up, and it ricocheted off his shoulder.

Whoops. pic.twitter.com/CcRjeJHVaA

— MLB GIFS (@MLBGIFs) July 9, 2016

Okay, that happens. If only there was some kind of device, perhaps a pair of glasses, that you could put on your face to protect your eyes from the glare of the sun. I've got it - we could call them sunglasses. Nah, no point. Professional baseball players would simply wear them on their caps as some kind of meaningless fashion statement, rather than put them to their intended use, eh, Mr. Lamb? If I sound bitter, it's because of the two-run homer which followed, giving SF back the lead.Mind you, I almost didn't notice, because I was too busy laughing at the official scoring decision to call that one a hit. Must be some kind of work exchange program with the Coors Field scorer.

It seemed to be a day for that kind of weirdness. As well as Lamb's faux pas, a Giants' reliever did a complete tuck and roll on his way out of the dugout toward the bullpen. And as shown in the picture on top of this recap, Brandon Drury face-planted onto the bullpen mound in left-field foul territory, while trying to catch a ball down the line. A fan tried to catch a foul ball with their tray of food - that ended well. And a Giants' base-runner got nailed in the helmet by a Gosewisch throw as he slid into second. Just a strange afternoon of baseball.

Ray ended up getting through five innings, on a relatively economical (for him) 93 pitchers. That was actually two more outs than Jake Peavy recorded. Robbie was charged with three runs on five hits and three walks, with seven strikeouts. Not a disastrous outing, but not improving his season ERA any. The main problem was - yet again - the D-backs struggling with runners in scoring position. They had opportunities.  Arizona had a man on second with no outs in the fifth, and the first two reached in the seventh. Nothing. After Drury's single gave then a 2-1 lead, they were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

There wasn't much to speak of after the starting pitchers departed. Randall Delgado allowed a run on a hit and a walk, giving the Giants some measure of insurance. But the two bullpens were otherwise effective. We managed only one hit in 4.2 innings of relief from San Francisco. That was a Phil Gosselin double with one out in the ninth, but Jean Segura and Michael Bourn, each representing the tying run at the plate, were unable to get anything done that would have given Goldschmidt a chance to be a hero. He ended with two hits and a walk,. and Gosselin also drew a walk in addition to his hit.

[Click for details, at fangraphs.com]
Clean bill of health: Phil Gosselin, 11.4%
Sturdy: Jean Segura, +10.7%
Flat-lined: Robbie Ray, -23.4%
Not quite dead: Bourn, 13.7%; -Delgado, -11.9%

preston.salisbury had most comments, ahead of AzDbackfanInDc and SongBird. Also to be found in the GDT: GuruB, Jackwriter, Jean Genie, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, MichaelMcD831993, MrMrrbi, Oldenschoole, hotclaws, imstillhungry95, makattack71, onedotfive and thunderpumpkin87. hotclaws picks up her second Comment of the Thread in a row, for another accurate summary of this game:

We'll try and avoid the sweep tomorrow, but with Archie Bradley going up against Madison Bumgarner, it's not going to be easy. That's an evening game, as it's also going to be nationally-televised on ESPN. What could possibly go wrong?