Arizona Diamondbacks 1, Washington Nationals 2

Robbie Ray was on fire today, and that was apparent from the first inning, in which he struck out the Nationals. He went on to fan the first five batters faced, in a performance which reminded us how dominating he could be. He ended up with six innings of two-run ball, on four hits and a walk, with 10 strikeouts. However, you could make a good case neither run was really earned: Yasmany Tomas fell over in the outfield, turning a fly-ball into a triple which became the tying run, and Brandon Drury ole’d a ground-ball in the sixth that turned into the go-ahead tally.

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks were squandering opportunity after opportunity. Gio Gonzalez was far from perfect, walking seven batters in just five innings, but all Arizona had to show for it was Chris Owings’s fifth home-run of the year, with one out in the first inning. However, Owings potentially cost his team, being caught stealing third-base in a fifth inning which featured FOUR walks, but in which the D-backs failed to score a run. Owings had two of the visitors’ four hits, with Jake Lamb and Tomas each drawing a pair of walks, in a loss that was more frustrating for the way it happened, rather than its existence.