Reds 4, Diamondbacks 3: That Didn’t Last Long

Take the night off Jim. You’ve earned it. Everything will be just fine. What’s the worst that could happen? We did just land one of the best rental bats on the market in the form of J.D. Martinez after all. Not like the Reds are going to hammer him in the hand with fastball... Stop breaking our toys! I’d like to personally welcome you to the first edition of Clueless Babbling with k_man5000.

This game started out in fairly routine fashion for the Reds. Billy Hamilton reached on a single and wasted no time stealing 2nd base. Zack Cozart followed with a single thereafter allowing Hamilton to score from 2nd leaving a trail of fire in his footsteps. It was the first time that Zack Greinke has allowed a run to score in the 1st inning all season. He was able to quickly escape the bottom of the 1st inning erasing Cozart on a GIDP by Joey Vato Votto. Greinke would continue on to allow the leadoff batter to reach base in each of the first four innings which is never a recipe for success. J.D. Martinez earned his first PO in a D’backs uniform fielding an Adam Duvall flyball to end the 1st inning. The first appearance of Goldschmidt followed by Martinez came and went without much to brag about as both were put down on strikes to begin the 2nd inning. Little were we aware that wasn’t nearly as bad as it could possibly get...

The Diamondbacks were able to get on board in the 3rd inning after a long double by Jeff Mathis that Steve Bert would have led you to believe was a home run were you listening to him long after it had already bounced off of the wall. David Peralta followed with his first extra base hit of the evening himself with a double and the score was tied 1-1. Arizona had the opportunity to add on after A.J. Pollock reached on a single with 2 outs, but Jake Lamb concluded that there was too much timely hitting yesterday and promptly struck out. Billy Hamilton reached base yet again to leadoff the Reds’ 3rd, and the world collectively stopped when Jeff Mathis somehow managed to throw him out on a stolen base attempt at 2nd. Zack Cozart continued his career season in his walk year depositing a dinger in left field. For the first time this season, the Reds’ dugout was collectively pissed that Hamilton did not just stay put. 2-1 Reds after 3 innings.

I will fully disclose at this point in the game that I was behind the entirety of the fan base. I did not get home from work until after 5:00 P.M. and had the game on DVR. I felt as if I were Leonardo DiCaprio in a bizarre version of baseball Inception watching my recorded version of the game and the current events on the gameday app. Goldy began the 4th with a single and it was time for round two of the power duo. Just watching Martinez’s at bat on the gameday app it appeared that he was giving Adleman a difficult time fouling off pitches. Then came the bizarre 7th pitch of the at bat. My app showed that it was a foul ball near his upper torso (I wish I would have taken a screenshot) and then there was an inexplicably long delay in updating. Surely the app was broken, right? I refreshed the app a few times as I finished my after work snack. Still no movement. Perhaps now would be a great time to check Twitter annnnnnnd... did the Reds seriously just break his effing hand? Please tell me they didn’t just break his hand. I’m going to punch a wall and break my hand because they just threw at him high and inside and broke his hand. At this point the recording is just a blur and I’m caught among the reactions on the Twitter-verse and GDT comments. To add insult to injury there was rules interpretation confusion, and Martinez was called out because he swung at the pitch even though he was hit on the hand. Torey Lovullo could hardly hold in his frustration as he buried his face in his hands after the call. Same bro, same.

Back to square one we go as Peralta shifts back over to RF to replace Martinez while Daniel Descalso enters in LF. Zack Greinke’s struggles continued as the leadoff batter Scooter Gennett singled coming around to score after a Scott Schebler walk and Tucker Barnhart single. 3-1 Reds after 4 innings.

Did they seriously break his hand just 2 at bats in?!? Here comes Steve B with his breaking news injury update annnnnnnnd... the Freight Train sends a rocket to Souvenir City. You were saying Steve? What’s the verdict? Yes, we’re well aware that Peralta just gave us a free Jumbo Jack just give me the update on Martinez before I break my other hand! The Arizona fan base breathes a collective sigh of relief as x-rays are negative and Martinez is day to day with a left hand contusion. A.J. Pollock is ecstatic and lines a 2 out double. Jake Lamb is just as giddy following with a double of his own allowing Pollock to score. Maybe the world isn’t ending. 3-3 even after 5 innings.

The game was quite honestly a dud after this point with most conversation swirling around the injury to Martinez and frustration mounting due to the Diamondbacks lack of ability to even muster any offense after the 5th. Greinke’s night was over after 5 innings allowing 8 hits, 3 walks, and 3 earned runs on 3 strikeouts on 104 pitches. Archie Bradley, Andrew Chafin, Jorge De La Rosa, and Jake Barrett combined to pitch 3 1/3 innings surrendering only 3 hits on 6 strikeouts. The only problem is that the Arizona offense concluded they were done playing as well. David Peralta had the only other D’backs hit on a single in the 7th.

Billy Hamilton reached base for the 3rd time in the game in the bottom of the 11th. Zack Cozart nearly ended the game right then and there with a long double, but thankfully for the Diamondbacks it bounced over the wall stopping the runners at 2nd and 3rd. Lovullo opted to walk Votto to load the bases with 1 out and have the force at any base. Adam Duvall had other plans ending the misery with a line drive to right field giving the Reds a walkoff in extras.

Yeah, not quite how I anticipated my first recap or Martinez’s first game for Arizona. The team will try to salvage a series win tomorrow with Taijuan Walker taking the mound before heading back to Phoenix for a crucial series against the Nationals. Arizona now trails Colorado by a half game for the 1st wild card spot with the Cubs just 5 games behind for the 2nd spot. Hope you had a great night off, Jim?

Unforgiven: Jake Barrett (19.9%)

Play Misty for Me: David Peralta (15.5%)

Firefox: T.J. McFarland, pitching (-27.8%)

Plenty of comments in tonight’s gameday thread with 693, though it turns out it was mostly just a couple of us talking amongst ourselves. The top contributor was James Attwood with 140 comments, followed by AzDbackfanInDC with 100 and Justin 27 with 80. All present were:

4 Corners Fan, AzDbackfanInDc, BigSmarty, BobDolio, Cumulus Choir, DORRITO, DbacKid, DeadManG, Diamondhacks, Gilbertsportsfan, GuruB, Imstillhungry95, Jackwriter, James Attwood, JoeCB1991, Joey Lewis, Justin27, Keegan Thompson, LamparT, Makakilo, Michael Hahn, Michael McDermott, MrMrrbi, PaulGoldsmith, SenSurround, Xipooo, aldma, catbat, coldblueAZ, hotclaws, onedotfive, smartplays

Comment of the night goes to BigSmarty for doing a great Bert take:

We have some JD Martinez updates for you

But first I’m goimg to talk about Peralta’s dinger for a minute

Now lets watch the replay

Ok now we have the news for you

Pollock hits a single to the outfield. Lets watch the replay a couple times

Ok here’s the JD update..

Good thing I’m already bald!

Posted by BigSmarty on Jul 19, 2017 | 5:59 PM reply unrec (4)