D-backs 8, Rockies 2 - A Good Start

After what has seemed like an eternity since the last time we saw the D-backs team, Opening Day is finally here and boy did it no disappoint. Well it might’ve been a little disappointing if you were expected Zack Greinke or Robbie Ray to start off the season but Patrick Corbin isn’t the worse replacement. In fact, you could probably get away with any of the starters as a solid starter. But, like it’s been mentioned many times on local radio, Torey felt some regret in not getting Corbin in any playoff games, which I guess is a decent enough excuse to let him pitch.

It started off well enough, with Corbin mowing down Charlie Blackmon to lead off the game and getting ahead of D.J LeMahieu before challenging him with a fastball, which he promptly dumped into left-center field for a 1-0 Rockies lead. Nolan Arenado singled after that before Corbin retired both Trevor Story and Carlos Gonzalez without much fanfare, striking them out to end the inning.

The offense wasn’t impressed with just a single run and pounced on Jon Gray right from the start. David Peralta singled after 6 pitches, and A.J. Pollock two left after falling behind 0-2. Paul Goldschmidt walked, loading the bases for Jake Lamb, and he smashed a drive to the deepest part of right-center, which clanked off the wall to score Peralta and Pollock, 2-1 D-backs. Ketel Marte and Alex Avila both grounded out, with Avila driving home Goldy from 3rd on his grounder, 3-1 D-backs.

Patrick Corbin was absolutely nasty his next 4 innings, only allowing a single runner past 2nd in the 5th inning, but quickly dodged the bullet with a double play. Corbin finally met some trouble in the 6th, giving up a leadoff home run to Arenado to cut the lead to 3-2 Dbacks, and a two-out single to Ian Desmond, which knocked him out of the game. All in all a great start for Corbin, who struck out 8 Rockies in his 5 2/3rds innings. He gave way to Jorge de la Rosa, who promptly forced a Parra groundout to shut the door.

The D-backs responded immediately, with Nick Ahmed walking to lead things off and Jarrod Dyson bunting to move the runner over. Well that’s what would happen to every other player in the MLB except Dyson, who beat the throw from Iannetta for an infield bunt single. Yeah he’s going to like the National League. Chris Owings saw his first at-bat of the year, and hit a flyball to CF, moving up Ahmed. Peralta stepped up and hit a doinker to Arenado, who couldn’t handle the play and everyone was safe, 4-2 D-backs. Pollock struck out and Goldy walked again, bringing up Lamb, who blooped a single just over 3rd to score both Dyson and Peralta, 6-2 D-backs.

The patchwork bullpen came on and was superb over the rest of the game, with Yoshihisa Hirano, Andrew Chafin, Archie Bradley and Fernando Salas combining for 3 1/3rds innings of shutout ball. So far so good for this group.

The D-backs scored 2 more in the 7th to push the lead to our final score to 8-2 D-backs. Nick Ahmed doubled, Jarrod Dyson tripled and Deven Marrero singled to give us our final two runs of the game.

✰✰✰ - Jake Lamb (2 for 5, 2B, 4 RBI) 18.8% WPA
✰✰ - Patrick Corbin (5 2/3 IP, 8K, 2ER) 11.9% WPA, David Peralta (3 for 5, 2R) 11.1% WPA
✰ - Ketel Marte (1 for 4) -7.9% WPA

Lots of exciting for an Opening Day, with 43 of you combining for 855 comments. smartplays led the way with 109. Our Comment of the Thread goes to Overlord Jim, who delights in the suffering of the Dodgers.

1 down, 161 to go! We pick things up tomorrow for another exciting matchup between the Rockies and D-backs at 6:40pm. Robbie Ray faces Tyler Anderson tomorrow. Be here.