D-backs 2, Giants 4 - WOW! Shelby pitches well!

If you only caught the first inning, I wouldn't have blamed you. Shelby Miller looked almost exactly like the guy we saw a couple months ago. Wild, erratic, and no confidence. Pagan flew out to start the inning, but it was disaster after that. Panik hit a dribbler down the 1st base line, ending up with a single after Miller let it roll before realizing it was staying fair. Buster Posey continued his mastery of D-backs pitching with a one-hop double to left-center, giving the Giants a 1-0 lead. Crawford followed with a strikeout, but Hunter Pence beat the pull shift, grounding one to Tomas in right for another run and a 2-0 advantage. Belt walked but Nunez grounded out, mercifully ending the inning.

Fortunately for D-backs fans, Miller settled into a groove and was great the rest of the way. Just 3 hits and a HBP allowed, with Shelby showing solid control and command of his mechanics. There was no chance of him making up for the previous 14 starts, but it was a nice to see him succeed. He worked around runners in scoring position twice, in the fourth and sixth innings, but go the outs when he needed them to shut down the threats.

Unfortunately for the D-backs, the offense was pitiful against Matt Moore through the first 5 innings, striking out 7 times and reaching second base a single time before squandering the opportunity. But then out of the blue the stars aligned in the top of the 6th. A.J Pollock beat out an infield single to set things up. Goldschmidt hammered a deep fly ball to CF, but Gorkys Hernandez made a fantastic play to rob Goldy of extra bases after making the catch while slamming into the wall. Pollock showed great awareness, tagging on the play and moving to second. With lineup full of righties on the way, that was it for Moore, who was replaced by Hunter Strickland. Pollock jumped on the new pitcher, stealing 3rd on the first pitch and Welington Castillo made it count, grounding a ball up the middle to score the run 2-1. Weeks singled with two outs, but Tomas struck out, his 2nd of 4 for the golden sombrero.

The absence of Shelby Miller on the mound did wonders for the Giants, who capitalized on a, well let's just call it, struggling bullpen. Randall Delgado allowed a pinch hit triple, Pagan doubled, and after a pitching change to Edwin Escobar, a single to cap things off. Another pitching change, this time Jake Barrett and he'd allow a sac fly scoring the second run of the inning, making things 4-1. He certainly made things interesting however, as Barrett walked the bases loaded but inducing a pop out to Owings at short to end the inning.

The D-backs threatened themselves in the 8th, loading the bases after a Segura double and two walks, but sombrero boy Tomas struck out. Burgos mopped up the bottom of the 8th, and Jake Lamb pinch hit, smacking a homer to left field to give us our final score of 4-2. Onto the GameGraph.