Diamondbacks 3, Giants 5: Beef Good, Bullpen Bad

In Zack Greinke's last start, he allowed five home runs to lose in impressive fashion. At first, it looked as if today would be more of the same, as Denard Span launched a leadoff home run to right, giving the Giants the early lead. After giving a single to Buster Posey, he settled down and would retire eight in a row before Posey's second single, allowing just the one run through five innings.

In Matt Moore's last start, he walked four and allowed six runs in less than three innings. Unfortunately, the Diamondbacks couldn't force him to repeat that outing. He would walk just one in seven innings of work. However, he would allow eight hits, including three extra base hits. The first of those, Jake Lamb's triple to center, put a runner on third with less than two outs, and Brandon Drury's single tied the game.

Zack Greinke worked his way in and out of trouble in the fifth, getting Denard Span to ground out with runners on second and third. In the bottom of the fifth, the Diamondbacks would briefly take their only lead of the game. Chris Owings picked up a one-out double and scored on Castillo's single.

While Greinke had run into a bit of trouble in the fifth, he lost the plot (and the strike zone) entirely in the sixth. A leadoff walk to Angel Pagan was followed by a long fly out by Posey, and then consecutive walks to Brandon Crawford and Hunter Pence. Brandon Belt's single scored one, Joe Panik's groundout scored another, and Greinke would walk his fourth hitter of the inning (this one intentionally) before retiring Moore to end it, with the Diamondbacks trailing 3-2. They wouldn't recover. Moore worked two more solid innings before turning it over to the bullpen.

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks bullpen was exactly the bullpen we have all come to know and love over the past few months. The combination of Edwin Escobar and Randall Delgado gave up two more runs in the seventh, although Steve Hathaway, Jake Barrett, and Enrique Burgos combined to retire seven in a row.

The offense tried to fight back, with Welington Castillo launching one to left off of Sergio Romo, and Yasmany Tomas following with a single before Bruce Bochy started playing matchups, getting Will Smith to strike out Jake Lamb and Hunter Strickland to strike out Brandon Drury. But there would be another fight back in the ninth against Strickland. Socrates Brito pinch hit for Mitch Haniger and doubled, and advanced to third on Jean Segura's ground out. But Owings lined out to Panik to end the game, and give the Diamondbacks their sixth loss in a row.

Had Greinke not walked four in the sixth, and the bullpen not allowed another two runs, this could have been a different game. I eagerly anticipate the front office talking about how there were good signs and how this game someone shows that a team on a pace to lose nearly 100 games is, in fact, a contending team. How long will it be until they realize that the only way the Diamondbacks are a contending team is if MLB decides to contract half the league, I'm not sure.

Beef Wellington: Welington Castillo, 15%
Roast Beef: Socrates Brito, 10.8%
Tainted Beef: Randall Delgado, -19.4%

Slow Gameday thread, with only 13 in attendance. Those few accounted for 112 comments, with Jackwriter taking top honors with 35. No comment of the thread, as nothing managed more than a solitary rec, largely the product of having so few in attendance.

The Diamondbacks will strive (possibly) to end their six game losing streak tomorrow night against the Rockies. Game will probably start about the time Monday Night Football is getting out of hand, so no excuses, unless you have to cook, study, or something like that.