Arizona Diamondbacks 5, San Francisco Giants 1: Ray-sonably good

Cactus League record: 8-7. Change on 2016: -3.5.

Another day, another half-victory, as Arizona came out on top of a split-squad San Francisco side this afternoon. Robbie Ray was... okay. There seemed to be some inconsistency at play here: some of his pitches looked really good, but others appeared eminently hittable. The final line looked decent enough: 3.1 innings of work, one run allowed on three hits and a walk, with a trio of strikeouts. But he was helped by a Giants TOOTBLAN. After Ray had allowed an RBI double, giving up his first run of spring with no outs in the third, the runner on second got himself picked off, running San Francisco out of a possible tied game. Robbie ended the day at exactly 60 pitches, but only 33 of those were strikes, perhaps indicating the issue today.

The bullpen was effective though, six relievers combining for 5.2 shutout innings of two-hit ball, with one walk and four strikeouts. Rule 5 pick Tyler Jones tidied up the fourth inning, and was followed by scoreless frames from Tom Wilhemsen, Evan Marshall, Erik Davis, Jared Miller (bouncing back today from a real horror-show outing against Oakland with a perfect eighth) and Jimmy Sherfy.

Arizona’s offense was nicely productive, out-hitting San Francisco’s by a 13-5 margin, though they only went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Gregor Blanco led off with a triple in the first, and was driving in by Peralta. Jake Lamb had an RBI triple - off a left-hander, no less - later in the inning. Brandon Drury had an RBI groundout in the fifth, and Chris Owings singled a runner home there as well. And Kristopher Negron got his first homer of spring, to complete our scoring in the sixth. Blanco, Drury and Jeremy Hazelbaker had two hits apiece, while Lamb got a walk in addition to his three-bagger.

Some concerning news from the World Baseball Classic, where Silvino Bracho was removed from the sixth inning of the game between Venezuela and Italy, after recording two outs. He was walking “gingerly around the mound and was escorted off the field by trainers.” A subsequent report suggests that Bracho suffered a right hamstring strain, but we are waiting for official confirmation on that.

Tomorrow, it’s the same Giants - except, probably different Giants, since it’s a full-strength roster at Scottsdale Stadium. Archie Bradley gets the start; Shelby Miller will pitch in a minor-league game tomorrow instead. Zack Greinke will also do that on Monday, to keep him on a regular schedule despite the off-day.