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Jon Niese
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Zack Godley
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| Jose Reyes - SS | Jean Segura - 2B |
| Kelly Johnson - 3B | Mitch Haniger - CF |
| Jay Bruce - RF | Paul Goldschmidt - 1B |
| James Loney - 1B | Rickie Weeks - LF |
| T.J. Rivera - 2B | Yasmany Tomas - RF |
| Curtis Granderson - LF | Chris Owings - SS |
| Travis d'Arnaud - C | Brandon Drury - 3B |
| Alejandro De Aza - CF | Tuffy Gosewisch - C |
| Jon Niese - LHP | Zack Godley - RHP |
Let's start with a quick look at where Haniger's debut stands in franchise history. The "tl;dr" of that is: pretty high. Here are the 10 best "first MLB games" by a Diamondbacks hitter, by total bases.
| Rk | Player | Date | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | TB | RBI | BB | SO | WPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Travis Lee | 1998-03-31 | COL | L 2-9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.213 |
| 2 | Mitch Haniger | 2016-08-16 | NYM | L 5-7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.159 |
| 3 | Trent Oeltjen | 2009-08-06 | PIT | W 11-6 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.092 |
| 4 | John Hester | 2009-08-28 | HOU | W 14-7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.011 |
| 5 | Gerardo Parra | 2009-05-13 | CIN | L 3-10 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.062 |
| 6 | Carlos Quentin | 2006-07-20 | LAD | W 5-2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.025 |
| 7 | Alex Cabrera | 2000-06-26 | HOU | W 6-1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.025 |
| 8 | Adam Eaton | 2012-09-04 | SFG | W 8-6 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.125 |
| 9 | Mark Reynolds | 2007-05-16 | COL | L 3-5 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0.255 |
| 10 | Chris Snyder | 2004-08-21 | CIN | W 2-1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.061 |
Haniger became the first debutant in franchise history with three RBI, as well as the first with two extra-base hits. That's a double performed in their inaugural game by just one National League player in the past six years. You probably remember who that is: Trevor Story, who had two home-runs and four RBI against the Diamondbacks on Opening Day at Chase Field this year. Before that, you have to go all the way back to Starlin Castro in May 2010 for the Cubs. In the live-ball era, it has been done just 12 times, including Haniger.
If you're looking for the franchise records over the first two games of their career, the mark for hits is four, done four times, most recently by Adam Eaton in 2012. The total bases record could easily fall: Haniger needs only a single to tie the eight bases delivered by Robbie Hammock in 2003 and Alex Cabrera in 2000. Hammock also holds the top figure for runs driven in over the opening two games of a career, with four. And in case you're wondering, Paul Goldschmidt opened his book by going 2-for-7 with a home-run and two RBI, when he arrived in 2011.
The first two games were apparently decided by who made the best adjustments since last time they met. The opener went to Arizona, who dealt with Bartolo Colon much more effectively here than in New York. But last night's game saw the Mets handle Braden Shipley a lot better here than at home. Curiously, both teams are using starters tonight who pitched out of the bullpen in the Citi Field series. That would appear to give the D-backs the advantage. Godley worked a single scoreless inning, while Niese surrendered six runs over his 1.2 frames. We also saw him as a starter back in April with Pittsburgh. He allowed ten hits and four runs over 5.1 innings, but got the W, as Patrick Corbin was worse.