Diamondbacks 1, Giants 0: Patrick Corbin, Giant Slayer

Games like these are always the hardest for me to recap. They are incredible, and my favorite type of game to watch, but so little actually happens that they are tricky to write about, but here goes. Tonight featured to fantastic pitching performances from both starters tonight. Both were impressive in their own rights, but Patrick Corbin’s was impressive enough that it overshadowed an outing from Johnny Cueto that any other night would have gotten him a win.

Both pitchers sat down the side in order in the first inning, each getting one strike out. Cueto got any unnecessary stress out of the way early, however, giving up a two out single to Alex Avila in the second inning, ending any chance of a perfect game or no hitter for him early. He didn’t allow another baserunner until the fourth, when he just grazed Paul Goldschmidt’s jersey with a pitch. Nothing came from either of those baserunners, and the score remained tied at zero.

Corbin, meanwhile, was just fantastic, sitting down the first ten he faced in order. He only collected two strike outs along the way, but a good strategy on his part of starting with the fastball and then finishing them off with the slider or curve, combined with a hack-a-way mentality the Giants brought made for a very efficient outing for Corbin.

It got a little dicey in the third. Brandon Belt was at the plate and hit a ground ball right into the teeth of the shift. It still made for a tough play for Descalso, who had to make a diving play to stop the ball, get up and throw Belt out, preserving the no hitter.

The Diamondbacks got another baserunner in the fifth, but once again it came with two outs. It also came from the number eight hitter, Jarrod Dyson, and Corbin was unable to help his own cause. To be fair, he probably felt that he had done enough of the heavy lifting, and the rest of the team needed to step it up.

That was all the Diamondbacks would manage off Cueto. He finished his evening with the stellar line of 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, and 11 K’s. Any other evening, probably good enough for a win. Luckily for the Dbacks, any other night isn’t tonight, and he left with a no decision.

The Giants almost broke it up in the seventh inning. Buster Posey was hitting with two outs and smashed a line drive to center. AJ Pollock got a bad read on it to start, but figured it out and chased it down in the corner, making an incredible diving play to snag it.

It would only last another inning. Brandon Belt came up again with two outs, again facing the shift. This time, Descalso’s best effort wasn’t enough, and when the dust settled, Belt was standing on first.

The Dbacks scored a run of Tony Watson in the bottom of the eighth to finally get a lead. Corbin went back out for the ninth and got two strike outs to start the inning. Nick Hundley pinch hit and actually had the longest atbat of the night. Same end result, though, as he lined out to David Peralta to end the game. 1-0 Dbacks

Stars of the Game:

★★★: Patrick Corbin 9 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 R, 100 pitches

★★: AJ Pollock, for his diving catch in the seventh

★: Daniel Descalso, for his diving catch in the third

Randy Johnson’s Perfect Game: Patrick Corbin, 76.3%

Edwin Jackson’s no hitter: David Peralta, 18.5%

Mike Zagurski: AJ Pollock, -10%

Only 570 comments in the thread tonight. All present were:

AZDovs11, AzCutter, BenSharp, CumulusChoir, DORRITO, DeadManG, DesertWeagle, Diamondhacks, Fangdango, GuruB, Imstillhungry95, JTyson, Jackwriter, JoeCB1991, Justin27, Michael McDermott, MikeMono, Mr Butterworth, MrMrrbi, PaulGoldsmith, Sean Testerman, SenSurround, SonomaComa1999, The so-called Beautiful, coldblueAZ, hobgobnob, hotclaws, onedotfive, piratedan7, rustynails77, shoewizard, since_98, smartplays, suroeste

COTD goes to GuruB for finding us this fact

Patrick Corbin is the first #Dbacks pitcher to throw a complete game shutout while allowing 2 baserunners or less since Randy Johnson’s perfect game on May 18, 2004. #GenerationDbacks

— Hot Stove Stats (@HotStoveStats) April 18, 2018

Once again.....Boycotting Taco Time for the 2018 DBacks season, since Tucson Taco Bell Owners are not honoring the promotion.

by GuruB on Apr 17, 2018 | 8:48 PM reply rec (8) flag actions

Same time tomorrow. Robbie Ray on the mound as the Dbacks look to secure another series win. See ya there!