Arizona Diamondbacks 7, Cleveland Indians 0: Greinke soothes our fears

Record: 15-15-2. Change on 2017: -1.

If this was an example of games at Chase Field in the humidor era, I think we’ll take 81 more of these, and then probably a few extra in the post-season. Zack Greinke and three relievers combined to one-hit the Cleveland Indians, while if the balls were moister, it didn’t seem to hurt Jake Lamb or Paul Goldschmidt, our two main power threats both going deep tonight. Greinke cruised through six innings, experiencing no apparent problems with his groin or his velocity. A one-out single by Rajai Davis in the fourth inning was the only hit he (or any other Arizona pitcher) would allow. Indeed, that was Greinke’s only base-runner allowed, while he struck out four. He threw 75 pitches.

Archie Bradley became the first Diamondbacks’ pitcher to enter a game in the bullpen cart (pictured above). He allowed a base-runner with a one-out walk, immediately cleaned it up with a double-play, and then Brad Boxberger and Yoshihisa Hirano also faced three batters each in their innings. Yep: we were that Davis single away from a no-hit, 27-batter minimum game. Meanwhile, Jake Lamb got Arizona on the board with a homer in the second, and the D-backs poured it on with a five-run fourth. Goldschmidt started the frame off with a two-run shot, and there were subsequently RBI for Daniel Descalso, Jeff Mathis and Greinke. Jake Lamb had an RBI double in the fifth, and that was it.

All told, the D-backs had 10 hits and three walks, with Goldschmidt getting three and Lamb two. Nick Ahmed came up with a golden sombrero: maybe he was peeved at Marte’s contract extension! David Peralta was a late scratch from tonight’s line-up, due to a thumb issue, but Torey Lovullo said after the game, it was just a case of wanting to give it another day to recover, and the Freight Train will be back on the tracks for the final pre-season game tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully that one will go as swimmingly well as this one did. Taijuan Walker is the scheduled starter for the Diamondbacks.