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Zack Greinke delivered the first quality start of the 2017 season for Arizona, and the offense backed it up with the most ferocious display of firepower so far. Initially, it looked like a pitcher’s duel, with Greinke and Trevor Bauer both pitching well. For the sixth game in a row, the visitors were first to score, Cleveland getting on the board in the fourth. Mind you, Bauer was helped by perhaps the worst strike call I’ve ever seen, from Angel Hernandez, more than half a foot off the edge of the plate.
Call hurts #Dbacks
— D'backs Strike Zone (@DiamondbacksUmp) April 9, 2017
Strike 2 should be ball 4
Bot 2 Bauer vs Mathis
0% call same
6.4in from edge pic.twitter.com/LTNhOIprU0
If that had proved significant, I’d be pissed. But, as has been the case in virtually every game this year, Arizona were merely sleeping. They tied things up in the fifth, blew the doors open with a four-run sixth, then took off and nuked the site from orbit in the eighth, sending 11 men to the plate. Greinke allowed one run over 6.2 innings, on five hits and no walks, with six strikeouts. There were three-hit nights for Yasmany Tomas, Brandon Drury and Jeremy Hazelbaker. The last named also walked, and has reached based in eight consecutive PA to start the season, the first to do that since Ramon Hernandez in 2006.
Full recap to follow, from our guest writer, in a bit!