Dbacks 3, Dodgers 1: The Streaks Continue

Unlike last night’s offensive explosion, this game was much more of a pitcher’s duel. Zack Grienke and Hyun-jin Ryu both brought their A games tonight. Chris Iannetta got a one out walk off Ryu in the first, and Descalso got one in the second. Meanwhile, Grienke sat down the side in order in both innings.

The third inning didn’t quite go as well for him, but he still unscathed . Andre Either, who I believe went to the College of the Ozarks, lead the inning with a walk. After a strike out and a bunt, he ended up on second with two outs. A very wild pitch over the head of just about everyone allowed him to take third, with Chris Taylor at the plate. It was the first point where our streak of consecutive innings without trailing was threatened, but Grienke got a line out to end the inning and the threat.

The Diamondbacks took the lead and gave that streak a bit of a cushion in the fourth. J.D. Martinez failed to hit a home run, and had to settle for a one out double instead. Brandon Drury took a walk, putting runners on first and second for Daniel Descalso. He laced a double to the left field wall, that juuuuust missed going over that short wall the dodgers have in the outfield corners. Like Martinez, he also settled for a double, scoring Martinez and moving Drury to third. Unfortunately, Adam Rosales struck out, and after Ketel Marte was intentionally walked, Grienke grounded out to end the inning. 1-0 Diamondbacks

The run proved fortunate for preserving the streak in the bottom of the fifth when Yasmany Grandal hit a lead off solo home run to tie the game. It looked like the streak was going to come to an end in a hurry when the Dodgers followed that up with consecutive singles. With no one out, things were looking shaky when Logan Forsythe came to the plate. Grienke did what he needed, though, and Forsythe grounded into a double play. That did allow Adrien Gonzalez to make it to third, but Ryu struck out to end the inning. Tied at 1

That was pretty much the end of Grienke’s night. He ended up going seven innings, four hits, one run which came on a solo home run, and six strike outs. It speaks volumes about just how good the starting pitching has been recently that this start seems almost... average. Still a great start and exactly what the Diamondbacks needed tonight, especially with the bats going quiet.

And they were quiet too. The game stayed tied at one apiece through the end of the ninth inning, sending the game to the tenth inning. Pedro Baez came on to pitch for the Dodgers. He didn’t seem to have anything to bring with him, though, giving up walks to Iannetta and Pollock to start the inning off. Herrmann was sent to pinch run for Iannetta. With two on and nobody out, Brandon Drury came to the plate. He hit an easy ground ball Justin Turner at third. He threw the ball home, but it glanced off pinch runner Herrmann’s shoulder, getting away from Grandal. Both runners came home to score, giving Arizona a two run lead.

And that was all they would need. Fernando Rodney came in and got the save, sending the Dodgers fans home crying to Twitter. The win streak was extended to a franchis record-tying 12 games, and the consecutive innings without trailing streak went to 98 innings. This is some seriously special baseball right now folks. Let’s hope it sticks around for a long, long time.

The only WPA number you need from this chart: Pedro Baez, -44.1%

Remember, Fangraphs looks at the games from the home team’s perspective, so from a Dbacks perspective, that’s a positive number. What a game.

A very busy GDT with over 700 comments. Justin27 and I both broke the century mark this evening. All present were:

Anachronistic1, AzRattler, Cumulus Choir, DORRITO, Diamondhacks, Greinkeschmidt, GuruB, Imstillhungry95, Jackwriter, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, JoelPre, Justin27, LamparT, Makakilo, Michael McDermott, MrMrrbi, Oldenschoole, SenSurround, SongBird, Sprankton, TinySarabia, asteroid, coldblueAZ, edbigghead, hotclaws, luckycc, smartplays

A lot of fantastic choices for COTN tonight, but I have to give this one to our resident improv specialist, luckycc, for taking the prompt of Justin Turner’s eyes and running with it:

Justin Turner's eyes

Are vortex’s to another dimension. The Mayans made human sacrifices to those eyes. They are all knowing and all seeing. They are the original Pandora’s box. Medusa took tips from those eyes. To look into those eyes is to know madness. The difference between the universe and Justin Turner’s eyes is that Justin Turner’s eyes are older. They contain the souls of the damned, inspire evil deeds in the hearts of men, and haunt your dreams.

Do not look directly into Justin Turner’s eyes or you may never be the same.

"My battle cry would be, 'For blood, vengeance, and my undeniable good looks!' - Nick Ryves, The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan

by luckycc on Sep 5, 2017 | 8:41 PM up reply unrec (7) actions

Game time is 7:10 again tomorrow. If you aren’t here, expect to have your life choices questioned.