Philles 1, Diamondback 2: Keeping up with the Dodgers

This game was far closer and more difficult than it had any right to be. Randal Delgado took the mound for the Diamondbacks to face off against the lowly Phillies, represented by Jeremy Hellickson. Torey Lovullo elected to give Jake Lamb the day off, despite his numbers against Hellickson, and to play Descalso at third base instead, even though Brandon Drury was in today’s game. If ever there was a game that it made sense to play Drury at third base, it was today. In addition to Lamb taking the day off, David Peralta was also given a breather. Some fans were worried about both of these potent lefties sitting at the same time, especially with a hittable righty on the mound.

The game started off quiet enough. Delgado struck out Cameron Perkins to start the game. Gregor Blanco did the same to open the bottom of the first inning for Arizona. This would be a preview of things to come for Blanco today.

The second and third innings passed by rather uneventfully. With Descalso being stranded on second in the second and Delgado registering a pickoff of Maikel Franco in the same frame.

The fourth inning saw the first exciting action of the game. After Delgado sent the Phillies down in order, Nick Ahmed opened the Diamondbacks’ half of the inning with a double. He was driven in on a single by Paul Goldschmidt, giving Arizona a one-run lead. Chris Owings followed this up with a fielder’s choice groundout. Owings was then promptly picked off at first by Jeremy Hellickson. Descalso then went quietly on a groundout to first.

Delgado allowed a walk and a hit in the fifth, but continued to roll, getting Ty Kelly and Hellickson to both roll into groundouts. The Diamondbacks managed to do nothing in their half of the inning. That would mark the end of Randall Delgado’s night though. Delgado’s final line was five innings of scoreless baseball, allowing four hits and a walk, while striking out four. All-in-all, another very good outing by the Arizona swingman.

The Phiillies managed a triple of Rubby De La Rosa in the sixth, but could not push the runner across as De La Rosa pitched a scoreless frame. The game continued to be relatively uneventful until the next inning.

In the seventh inning, Andrew Chafin came out in relief of Rubby De La Rosa. After getting two outs but also allowing two singles, Torey Lovullo turned to Archie Bradley to lock things up. With runners on first and second and two out, Howie Kendrick flared a soft fly to right field which allowed Odubel Herrera to score from second. The Diamondbacks challenged the ruling on the field that the ball landed fair, but the call on the field was upheld, hanging a blown save on Archie Bradley while adding an earned run to Chafin’s line.

The Diamondbacks tried to respond in the bottom of the eighth inning. With two out, Jeff Mathis doubled. This brought up Jake Lamb in a pinch-hitting situation. He was given the free pass, bringing up Gregor Blanco, who proceeded to strike out for the fourth time on the afternoon.

The ninth inning was another quiet one, leading the game into extra innings. The tenth inning went by rather quickly, neither team managing to make any real noise.

Finally, in the eleventh inning, Paul Goldschmidt singled with two outs. He was followed by Chris Owings who worked a walk, but not just any walk. This was an impressive 12-pitch affair. With runners on first and second, Descalso stepped in and took an 1-0 pitch and pulled a grounder through the right side to score Goldschmidt from second and secure the win for the Diamondbacks in walk-off fashion.

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COTD goes to edbigghead

 Descalso

END THIS!

I'm on The Brute Squad.

by edbigghead on Jun 25, 2017 | 4:59 PM reply unrec (5) actions

After which Descalso promptly ended the game.

The Dark Knight: Daniel Descalso (32.3%), Randall Delgado (29.4%)

Superman (1978): Fernando Rodney, Jorge De La Rosa, T.J. McFarland (14.7% each)

The Green Lantern: Gregor Blanco and his Golden Sombrero (-20.4%)