Snake Bytes 4/22: Lucky Seven

Diamondbacks 6, Padres 2

[D’backs.com] Pollock’s return helps lead D-backs past Padres - After sitting out Friday’s contest following a collision with fellow outfielder Chris Owings the night prior, A.J. Pollock returned to roam center field for the Diamondbacks on Saturday. Pollock broke up a 2-2 tie with a two out solo shot to right field in the 3rd off of Padres’ starter Clayton Richard. He also drove in Paul Goldschmidt for the Diamondbacks’ sixth run of the game in the 7th inning.

“Richard is definitely a guy that wants to get you to hit ground balls,” Pollock said when talking about the at-bat in which he went deep. “He’s got a lot of sink on his ball, a lot of deception, a lot of angle to it. When he’s on, he’s getting a lot of guys to roll it over to shortstop and third, and I was just trying to put a good swing on it and stay on whatever pitch he was throwing me. Not try to hit a homer, but try to drive a ball the other way.”

[Arizona Sports] Zack Godley celebrates birthday with win, D-backs top San Diego - Zack Godley continued to struggle to find the zone with his curveball at times while starting on his 28th birthday. According to Fangraphs, his curveball is only in the strike zone 30.1% of the time this season, down from 37% last year, and hitters are only swinging at it out of the zone 38% of the time this season as opposed to 50% last year. The Los Angeles Dodgers effectively used a patient approach against him last weekend, but the Padres had more difficulty laying off of the pitch. Of Godley’s eight strikeouts, three of them came on a swinging third strike at the curveball. Brooks Baseball has him throwing the pitch 38 times yesterday with 7 swings and misses total. He also hit a two out RBI single to tie the game in the 2nd inning, becoming the first pitcher to tally an RBI on his birthday since Patrick Corbin did it on July 19th, 2015.

“I thought obviously Zack Godley’s big base hit gave us a boost of energy inside the dugout,” Lovullo said. “Then he went out there and had some shutdown innings, which was also nice.”

Diamondbacks News

[D’backs.com] Lamb establishes ‘Kids with Courage’ program - Jake Lamb and his family know the hardships to be experienced when battling child leukemia. His sister, Megan, was only three years old when she had to undergo chemotherapy, while six year old Jake watched her fight. He is now using his platform in hopes to alleviate the pain suffered by families in a similar situation.

“We forget how good we have it,” Lamb said. “We get so locked in on results and winning, and that’s great. I want to have results, I want to win, but this is just a game that we play. They’re dealing with real life stuff. I’m just trying to help out any way that I can. It wasn’t easy. Seeing a little girl walking down a [hospital] hall with a nurse, crying in pain, just kind of brought back some ugly memories, but I have to get over that. Because having the platform that I have, I should do what I can.”

[Arizona Sports] Souza Jr. and Lamb on the mend, may return to D-backs lineup soon - The Diamondbacks have pushed through the first month of the season with two of their biggest power bats on the disabled list, but that could be changing soon. Jake Lamb and Steven Souza Jr. both had five at bats in an extended spring training game. Lamb could return from the disabled list as soon as Tuesday in Philadelphia. Souza Jr. will have to begin throwing again before his return as that has been his largest setback during rehab.

[The Athletic] Diamondbacks’ A.J. Pollock is in a groove and he wants to ‘defeat that humidor - 2018 is an important season for impending free agents A.J. Pollock and Patrick Corbin. Both will enter a staggering list of names looking for a significant payday this offseason, so it would behoove them to produce strong numbers this year. Pollock’s K% this season is 31.1%, roughly twice as high as his career figure, but his hard contact % is 10% higher than his regular season norm currently sitting at 44.4%. That has resulted in five home runs in the first month of this season, and the most he has ever had in one campaign was the 20 he had in a fully healthy 2015.

“He came out swinging,” said Paul Goldschmidt. “He’s got a ton of doubles and now an opposite-field homer. It felt like that first week he was kind of carrying the offense.”

[AZ Central] ‘Family’ and sense of ‘brotherhood’ has Diamondbacks picking up right where they left off - When Mike Hazen hired Torey Lovullo to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks, Lovullo would inherit a roster of players who had mostly come up through the minor leagues together. Torey’s philosophy of team unity and player first personality has helped to form a common bond among everyone in the clubhouse, and it has produced better results on the field during his tenure. Players frequently praise how open the manager is in communicating with the team and relating to them on a personal level.

“Family. We created a family. We’ve created a brotherhood here in the clubhouse,” left fielder David Peralta said. “The manager, he’s got really, really good communication with us, and we’ve got new players, too, and with them it’s the same thing.”

Around the League

[Fox Sports] A’s lefty Manaea pitches no-hitter vs streaking Red Sox - This could have been the D’backs on both ends of the spectrum earlier this week. First, Patrick Corbin carried a no hitter two outs into the 8th inning against the San Fransisco Giants on Tuesday. Arizona was nearly no hit themselves facing Tyson Ross of the San Diego Padres Friday evening before a Christian Walker double in the 8th broke that opportunity up. Instead, the first no hitter of the 2018 season comes from the left arm of the Oakland Athletics’ Sean Manaea at the expense the Boston Red Sox high powered offense. This no hitter almost did not make it out of the 6th inning. Andrew Benintendi was originally ruled safe for an infield single, but the umpiring crew came together and concluded that Benintendi went wide of the first baseline, so the call was overturned.

[LA Times] White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar has brain hemorrhage caused by a ruptured aneurysm - Chicago White Sox reliever Danny Farquhar passed out in the dugout after recording two outs in the 6th inning against the Houston Astros on Friday night. He suffered a brain hemorrhage as a result from a ruptured aneurysm, so his health was understandably the chief concern among his teammates and coaching staff. Danny was conscious upon being transported from the stadium to the hospital.

“Yeah, I mean, it crushes us in this clubhouse,” said James Shields, who started Friday’s game. “And nothing really matters baseball-wise when something like that happens, you know. He’s definitely stable from what we hear, but he’s got a long way to go and he’s fighting,” he said.

[For The Win] The 7 best things I ate at MLB’s first annual Food Fest - At least in the eyes of one critic, the Churro Dog, sold exclusively at Chase Field, was the best item at the first annual MLB Food Fest. All those years of ridiculous concoctions has finally paid off. It would have been disappointing if not a single one of the Diamondbacks’ innumerable options landed on a Top 10 list. Can we even consider this event valid if ISH was not given exclusive credentials to attend? When it comes to ballpark food, I am a fan of more traditional options. I have already visited Portillo’s at Chase Field so many times that the order taker recognizes me and does not have to ask for my order. The philly cheese steak at Petco Park is perhaps one of the best you will find on the Pacific Coast.