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Robbie Ray
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Joe Ross
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| Jean Segura - 2B | Trea Turner - CF |
| Chris Owings - SS | Wilmer Difo - 2B |
| Paul Goldschmidt - 1B | Jayson Werth - LF |
| Jake Lamb - 3B | Anthony Rendon - 3B |
| Brandon Drury - LF | Ryan Zimmerman - 1B |
| Yasmany Tomas - RF | Danny Espinosa - SS |
| Socrates Brito - CF | Michael Taylor - RF |
| Tuffy Gosewisch - C | Pedro Severino - C |
| Robbie Ray - LHP | Joe Ross - RHP |
The entire team took a five-and-dive yesterday, resulting in what I believe was the first ever Diamondbacks rain-shortened victory ever. We should do that more often. Now, let's see if they'll get today's game in. AzDbacksFan seemed to think there was no chance of that happening, but the forecast this morning appears to be a little more hopeful of play. The Washington Post says, "Rain could be light and scattered enough to get the game in, but the chance of heavy rain will increase with every inning." They put the chance of a delay of some kind at 60%, and I guess given their statement, a delay would make postponement more likely; they give that a 40% chance.
Hopefully, Robbie Ray does at least get to finish off the year with a full outing - so, that'd be five innings, hohoho. Unless Patrick Corbin loses a game in relief, Ray is already guaranteed to lead the team in losses. He has the highest K-rate (11.40) by any pitcher with 14 losses, since Nolan Ryan went 8-16 with a 11.48 K-rate in 1987. That's the only previous occurrence; third is Randy Johnson's 2004 campaign for Arizona, interestingly. Ray also needs eight strikeouts to tie Dan Haren's 2009 mark of 223 strikeouts. Above that, you'll only find Johnson and Curt Schilling in franchise history, who occupy the top seven spots.
This has actually been a pretty good series for the Diamondbacks. They're already guaranteed at least a split of the four-game series, on the road against a team who still very much has something to play for, with home-field advantage in the NLDS against Los Angeles still to be decided. We've seen the team win both with explosive offense, as in the opener, and with a competent Shelby Miller, as last night. Of course, there's no telling what might have happened had yesterday's game gone the full nine - we saw on Tuesday that our bullpen can lose the game very quickly. But this is the kind of series you want in the final week, to give some warm fuzziness into the winter.