Diamondbacks 4, Red Sox 9 - Who ordered the False Dawn?

Record: 48-67. Pace: 68-94. Change on 2016: -9.

It was certainly an... interesting first inning for Jean Segura. The first pitch of the game, he lofted an easy fly-ball into right-field. Only for the Red Sox fielder to fall over like an underperforming Russian gymnast, and the ball to roll into the corner for a triple. Unfortunately, on the next pitch - a fly-ball to center - Segura chose to dance too far off the bag at third, when drawing a throw home. The catcher fired over to the hot corner and we went from a man on third with no outs, to the bases empty with two outs. After a Paul Goldschmidt single, Rickie Weeks Jr launched one over the green monster, making it 2-0 to the Diamondbacks, and everything was right with the world again.

It was a lovely two minutes while it lasted.

For the D-backs unraveled entirely over the next inning and a half, the Red Sox scoring eight times, helped by multiple blunders from the Arizona infield. Segura botched a ground-ball to the first hitter, redeemed himself somewhat with a good catch over the shoulder for what should have been the third out, but then Patrick Corbin surrendered a three-run homer to Hanley Ramirez, An error by Jake Lamb was followed by two more singles and another unearned run, as Boston sent nine to the plate. After Arizona went 1-2-3, the bottom of the second inning opened with a Chris Owings bobble, and also included a three-run Ramirez homer and four more Red Sox runs.

It also marked the end of Patrick Corbin’s night, and the nadir of a season which has gone from bad to worse, to horrible to... this. It wasn’t quite the shortest outing of his career - he had one in August last year against the Nationals, that only lasted four outs. But even cutting some slack for the errors, Corbin faced sixteen batters and retired only five, with eight crossing home-plate. He’s now at nine starts in a row without a victory, going 0-6 with an ERA of 7.68 there. Since the end of 2010, only three D-backs starters have had longer winless streaks: Ian Kennedy in 2013 and Robbie Ray last year went 10, and of course, Vidal Nuno famously went 14 winless in 2014. However, none of those had an ERA even at six.

You’ll understand if interest in the game waned considerably after the D-backs fell six runs behind by the end of the second inning. Credit is due to Zack Godley, who did his best Josh Collmenter impression, by coming in and mopping up innings. He worked 4¹⁄₃ scoreless innings after replacing Corbin, before giving up a home-run to David Ortiz, leading off the seventh inning. In between times, Tuffy Gosewisch continued his remarkable power streak, hitting a home-run. That was his fifth career home-run, and came the game after #4. Which is quite impressive, considering that #1, #2 and #3 for Tuffy were each separated by more than a year.

One wonders if Godley’s stay in the bullpen might be short, if the team is looking to replace Patrick Corbin in the rotation. For his struggles have been so long and pronounced, you have to imagine it’s being considered. Zack certainly looked more than competent here, though you can imagine the Red Sox hitters somewhat checking out mentally, given the score. He worked 5.1 innings of two-hit relief, with the Big Papi home-run the only damage. He walked none and struck out four. In a final sign of how screwed up this game was, Dominic Leone came in for the ninth, and worked a 1-2-3 inning. Striking out the side.

If the game had been scored in terms of raw hits, rather than those pesky runs, it would have been a good deal closer. The Diamondbacks reached double figures and actually out-hit the Red Sox, 12-11. Segura had a ninth-inning double to add to his "triple", then scored on Phil Gosselin’s hit. Both men had two-hit nights, as did Weeks, Owings and Gosewisch, while Brandon Drury reached safely twice, on a hit and a walk. You probably don’t need me to draw you a picture of what the Fangraph looks like on this one. I haven’t checked yet, but I’m willing to bet it resembles the 38th parallel after the second inning. Let’s see if I’m right...

Oh, look. Yes, it was... Just over 300 comments, led by MichaelMcD831993, ahead of friendly visiting fan outofleftfield and Diamondhacks. The game was, understandably, not a major topic of conversation here. Also taking part: Anisha0913, AzDbackfanInDc, AzRattler, Gilbertsportsfan, GuruB, Indedave, Jackwriter, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Makakilo, MrMrrbi, Oldenschoole, RobertMerrill, Xerostomia, asteroid, blue bulldog, coldblueAZ, david.munter, hotclaws, onedotfive, preston.salisbury and since_98. One red comment, which doesn’t really have any context, yet seems an appropriate way to sum up collective ennui here.

I don't think anyone really cares what he thinks

/shrug

Not one shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.

by onedotfive on Aug 12, 2016 | 4:23 PM up reply rec (4) flag actions

Archie Bradley will take on the struggling Clay Buchholz tomorrow night in Boston, so we’ll see whether that goes any better.