Dbacks 3, Mets 2 - Ray of Light

On July 28th, Robbie Ray was at peak performance. After what seemed like years of inconsistency, he was finally pitching up to his gaudy stuff. In the blink of an eye everything changed. Luke Voit lined a 108 mph liner directly into Ray’s head, knocking him out of the game and causing him to miss just under a month of action. Thankfully the incident was the worst part and Robbie made a full recovery, culminating in today’s start.

And boy did Robbie look good. The first batter of the game, Juan Lagares struck out on 3 quick fastballs. Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes were next, and wouldn’t you know it, they struck out swinging as well for a quick inning for Ray.

The 2nd saw Wilmer Flores getting hit by a pitch, but Ray worked around the baserunner, getting two lineouts and a strike out to end the inning. The 3rd was more of the same, with 2 strikeouts and a lineout surrounded by a walk.

The 4th finally saw Ray falter, with Cespedes hammering a curveball deep to left-center field for a homer and first hit of the game for the Mets 1-0. The 5th finally saw Ray struggle, with Kevin Plawecki and Gavin Cecchini reaching base to lead off the inning. But of course, Ray worked around it. Getting Rafael Montero to strike out on a foul bunt, Lagares fielders choice and Brandon Nimmo struck out after Conforto dislocated his shoulder on a swing. All told, Ray went 5 innings, giving up just 2 hits and the single run, with 2 walks and 9 strikeouts. Outstanding. Ray is just what this team needs down the stretch to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The offense was sluggish to start the game until the 5th, when the offense strung together 4 singles and a sac fly to score two run, giving the D-backs a 2-1 lead. Singlers are as follows: Rey Fuentes, Chris Herrmann, Robbie Ray, and Gregor Blanco. Ketel Marte drove in Herrmann with a sac fly before Jake Lamb popped out to end the threat.

The offense pushed across another run, with Paul Goldschmidt singling to lead off the inning. He stole 2nd, his 17th of the year, and Drury dumped a single to right to score Goldy 3-1. Fuentes singled to push Drury into scoring position but Hermann and Blanco struck out to ruin the chance.

David Hernandez threw the 6th, allowing a double to Cespedes but getting through unscathed as Chafin cleaned things up. Chafin pitched the 7th and was awful, loading the bases on a single and 2 walks before Archie Bradley came on. He was fantastic, getting a ground out and striking out Flores after a Cespedes intentional walk to keep the D-backs in front 3-2.

After that it was smooth sailing as Bradley pitched the 8th and Rodney pitched the 9th. Okay so maybe it wasn’t smooth but Rodney stranded the tying run at 3rd with a some clutch pitching, inducing a groundball and flyout to end the game, giving him his 30th save and the team a 3 out of 4 wins against the Mets. Onto the GameGraph!

Archie Bradley was clutch in his 2 innings, stranding a sure-fire scoring chance good for 26.6% WPA. Rodney got big points for his 1-run clutch, grabbing a 18.4% WPA.

The D-backs will look to capitalize on a weak schedule with the Giants coming to town for a 3-game series. It will be interesting to see who wins.