Diamondbacks 1, Nationals 2: All Streaks Must Die

Tony’s Scribner got the call up from AAA Reno today to start for the Diamondbacks. Considering that the last player to pitch in this rotation spot was Kris Medlen, the standards weren’t set too high for him and, for the most part, Scribner was able to live up to them.

He got into a bit of trouble quickly, though. After two quick outs to start the game, he gave up back to back walks. One mound visit later, Howie Kendrick flew out, ending the threat.

In the bottom of the same inning, Arizona put together a threat of their own. David Peralta and Daniel Descalso both singled to start the inning. Goldschmidt lined one that could have easily been a hit, but the National’s shortstop just managed to snag it, and converted it into a fielder’s choice, getting Descalso at second. Stephen Strasburg hit Pollock on the first pitch, and loaded the bases with just one out. However, in true Dbacks fashion, Steven Sousa Jr. flew out, and Ketel Marte struck out, ensuring that no runs were scored.

Scribner got into a bit more trouble in the third. A lead off single came around to score immediately on a Bryce Harper double. One out later, a walk to Matt Adams and a single from Howie Kendrick loaded the bases. He was able to wiggle out of it by getting back to back strike outs of Andrew Stevenson and Michael A. Taylor to end the inning without further damage. 1-0 Nationals

The Dbacks finally managed a tiny bit of offense in the bottom of the third. Goldschmidt got on base without making an out this time, drawing a walk. AJ Pollock doubled him home, tying the game. Doing any more than that would have required a hit with RISP, and those go against team policy at this point, so Sousa Jr flew out to end the inning. 1-1

More trouble for Scribner in the fourth inning, and he wasn’t able to get out of it this time. Pedro Severino singled to lead off. Strasburg tried to bunt him over, but instead popped it up for an easy out. Trea Turner and Harper walked, loading the bases. Anthony Rendon grounded into a force out to bring Severino home from third and that was the end of the line for Scribner. He gave up a few less runs then Medlen, but wasn’t quite able to go the four innings. Jorge De La Rosa replaced him and got a quick ground out from Adams to end the inning. 2-1 Nationals.

And that was it. The offense went completely silent the rest of the way, only managing one hit and one walk. TJ McFarland pitched three innings, again saving the bullpen from a potentially long day. Hirano and Chafin also pitched scoreless innings.

★★★ TJ McFarland, 18.3% WPA

★★ No one. Everyone else sucked.

Quiet gameday thread, probably having to do with the fact that a good number of us were at the ballpark today. 27 of us showed up and put together 548 comments. All present were:

AZDovs11, AzDbackfanInDc, AzRattler, BigSmarty, BobDolio, DBacksEurope, DORRITO, DeadManG, Diamondhacks, GuruB, Husk, Imstillhungry95, Jackwriter, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Michael McDermott, MrMrrbi, Oscar Goldman, Renin, The so-called Beautiful, asteroid, hotclaws, megnetic, nolanriley13, onedotfive, shoewizard, smartplays

No one got more than 2 rec’s, kind of like how no one on the team got more than one hit, so no comment of the day. Tomorrow is a night game and is going to be on ESPN so tune in so you can hopefully watch the team put on a decent show for the national audience.