Snake Bytes 5/15: Wrong Direction

Brewers 7, Diamondbacks 2

[D’backs.com] D-backs drop 6th straight; Pollock injured - Arizona’s losing streak extends to 6 games after a 7-2 loss. The game was tied at 2 heading into the 7th inning, but the Brewers scored 5 unanswered to take the opener. Perhaps the most painful loss came when A.J. Pollock injured his left thumb on a diving play in the 9th inning. With Milwaukee already leading 4-2 at that point it would have been wise for Pollock to allow the ball to fall. He was desperately trying to make the play and his glove hand was caught at an awkward angle after he dove. The ball unsurprisingly made it past him allowing for an inside the park home run for Tyler Saladino plating two runs for the Brewers.

[Arizona Sports] D-backs’ Pollock has sprained left thumb after failed diving catch - Patrick Corbin took his first loss of the season. His fastball velocity trended upwards but still not near his early season average of ~93 mph. Corbin threw 99 pitches over 6 innings allowing 6 hits, 4 earned runs, and recorded 8 strikeouts. Lovullo had to use Yoshihisa Hirano, Andrew Chafin, Jimmie Sherfy, and Fernando Salas out of the bullpen. Salas surrendered the other 3 Brewers runs bringing his season ERA to 5.66.

[AZ Central] Milwaukee Brewers extend Arizona Diamondbacks’ losing streak to 6 - Paul Goldschmidt’s batted ball profile was much more attractive this game despite him having only 1 hit in this game. He had one fly ball to right field with an exit velocity in excess of 100 mph that would have been a home run last season without the assistance of the humidor. As the season progresses, you can really see the impact it is having on fly balls. Steven Souza Jr. had 2 hits and an RBI himself in this game.

Diamondbacks News

[D’backs.com] Injury updates: Ray, Miller, Shipley, Delgado - We should have news on A.J. Pollock’s hand closer to game time today. Shelby Miller will have his second start in extended spring training this Thursday. Robbie Ray reported progress throwing from 90 feet. Jake Lamb had 5 plate appearances in his first game of rehab assignment. Braden Shipley is scheduled for a bullpen session on Tuesday after receiving a cortisone shot last week.

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks’ Zack Godley having trouble with curve - I had previously touched on Zack Godley’s struggles in Snake Bytes after his hellish outing in Los Angeles back in April. Nick Piecoro has pointed out a drop in velocity for Godley, and his slower curveball is getting rocked as opposed to when he dials up the velocity on the pitch.

When Godley’s curveball is 82 mph or harder, opponents are slugging a minuscule .094, according to Baseball Savant data. But when it dips below 82 mph, the slugging jumps to .609.

[The Athletic] Zack Greinke is starting to find the slider that’s been lost so far this season - When Zack Greinke catches the heart of the plate with a pitch, chances are it is going to be hit hard. Opposing hitters have called him out on it. Greinke realizes it himself. For the first month of this season, his slider was catching too much of the plate far too often and was being hammered. He had more success with it against the Nationals on Thursday, but Michael Taylor hit a loud double off the pitch in the 8th inning to end Greinke’s night.

“It doesn’t do exactly what I want,” Greinke said. “Every time, it does something different, kind of often. And I don’t locate it great.”

[Arizona Sports] Steven Souza mic’d up against Nationals, takes advantage of situation - Take a few minutes out of your day to listen to a few sound clips of Steven Souza Jr. mic’d up on the nationally broadcast Mother’s Day game. It would be entertaining to have an opportunity to listen to players on the field on a more consistent basis. He had an exchange with umpire Joe West telling him that he hoped West would have been the first umpire to eject Souza in the last year of his career.

Around the League

[ESPN] Power Rankings: Can anyone challenge the Evil Empire? - Nearly a week of losing has brought the Diamondbacks back towards Earth. ESPN drops Arizona 1 spot to #5. Ready for an overreaction? The Diamondbacks tumbled all the way down to #9 in their poll. Down one spot to #4 at USA Today. The Athletic keeps the snakes put at #4.

[USA Today] MLB is powerless to stop gambling on baseball. That doesn’t mean it should endorse it. - The United States Supreme Court ruled on Monday that it is unconstitutional for the federal government to enact laws against sports gambling. Specifically, it struck down a 1992 federal law that prohibited most states from authorizing betting by a ruling of 6-3. The majority opinion was that it forced states to prohibit the behavior under their own laws due to federal regulations, but this decision gives that power back to the states.

“Sports betting happens,’’ Commissioner Rob Manfred told Yahoo Finance this spring. “Whether it’s legalized here or not, it’s happening out there. So I think the question for sports is really, ‘Are we better off in a world where we have a nice, strong, uniform, federal regulation of gambling that protects the integrity of sports, provides sports with the tools to ensure that there is integrity in the competition…or are we better off closing our eyes to that and letting it go on as illegal gambling?’”

[ESPN] Brandon Drury reinstated from DL, assigned to Yankees’ Triple-A team - For those of you who have not been following old friend Brandon Drury, he learned that his migraine issues were related to nerve problems in the back of his head. The Yankees had him back in game action on rehab assignment. Youngsters Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres have secured starting roles at third and second, so Drury was reassigned to AAA after being reinstated from the disabled list.