Diamondbacks 20, Padres 5: Broken Record

Good lord, this was one ridiculous game, in a really, really good way. I was nervous waiting on the first pitch because I had the misfortune of recapping Robbie Ray’s most recent start on Monday, in which he gave up four runs in his first inning of work. Also, our bats haven’t been terribly clutch or timely for the most part this week. Turns out I didn’t have to worry about anything more than my score sheet becoming increasingly messy as the game got progressively further out of hand.

Robbie Ray didn’t soothe my nerves at all, giving up a six-pitch walk to Padres leadoff man Manuel Margot. He run the count full again to Wil Myers, who deposited the seventh pitch he saw into the Diamondbacks bullpen. Thankfully, though, he settled down somewhat, ending the frame with three consecutive strikeouts, having thrown an ominous 27 pitches. 2-0 Padres

The Diamondbacks were ready to pick up their starter, though. Jon Jay hit a leadoff double to right against Padres starter Tyson Ross. Ross then walked Paul Goldschmidt and Jake Lamb to load the bases for David Peralta. Peralta hit a mild ground ball to second baseman Jose Perala, who lost the handle on the ball and fumbled the flip to shortstop Freddy Galvis, pulling him slightly off the bag and allowing Goldy to beat the force. A bit oddly, this was scored an infield hit. Jay scored from third. Still bases loaded, still no outs. Steven Souza Jr. flied out to center, but the ball wasn’t deep enough for Goldy to tag and score. No matter, though, as Daniel Descalso followed with a double down into the left field corner that scored Goldy and Lamb, and advanced the Freight Train to third. Nick Ahmed then hit a sacrifice fly to deep right, allowing Peralta to score. Then it was Alex Avila’s turn, which I have to confess that I didn’t feel too good about. He stroked a single to right on the fifth pitch of a very good at bat, however, driving in Descalso and allowing us to bat around in the inning. 5-2 DBACKS

Ray had a quieter second inning, pitching around a leadoff single and a one-out walk before inducing the hapless Tyson Ross to ground into a double play.

The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, were ready to do it all again in the second. Goldy hit a one-out singe to center, then was erased on a a Lamb grounder to really should have been a double-play ball but for some more not-scored-an-error malfeassance by the Padres’ middle infielders. Peralta doubled to right, driving Lamb in. Then Steven Souza came to the plate, he of the vaunted though as yet unseen power bat, and did this:

Descalso then struck out to end the inning, but the pile-on continued. 8-2 DBACKS

Robbie Ray had his quickest inning of work in the third, only needing 13 pitches to get out of the inning. He did, however, allow a second dinger to Will Myers. 8-3 DBACKS

But no matter, as the Diamondbacks got it right back on the first pitch Nick Ahmed saw from Padres submarine reliever Kazuhisa Makita and sent it just over the wall in left for a dinger of his own. Makita plunked Alex Avila with the next pitch he threw, but it turns out that Makita’s fastballs top out around 80mph, so it wasn’t that bad. He was erased on an unfortunate Robbie Ray bunt attempt. Jay singled to left, batting for the third time in three innings, and Goldy hit a ground ball to poor Jose Pirela, who had it roll between his legs and into right field, allowing Ray to score. One out later, another Peralta single drove in Jay. 11-3 DBACKS

Robbie Ray, meanwhile had another rough inning in the fourth, taking 27 pitches again to get through the inning and surrendering his third home run of the night, this one to Jose Pirela, who perhaps wanted to make amends for his error in the previous inning. 11-4 DBACKS

The first three DIamondbacks reached in the bottom of the fourth, on another Descalso double and back-to-back walks. Ray struck out, the Jon Jay hit a slow grounder to short that forced Avila out at second but allowed Descalso to score. Then Goldy came up for what turned out to be his last at-bat of the night, and boom:

Lamb struck out to end the inning, but really, at this point, who cares? 15-4 DBACKS

Robbie Ray came out to start the fifth, hoping to get through one more inning and get the W. He was at 86 pitches at that point, but with an eight run lead, why not? Alas, though, it was not to be, as he struck out Margot but walked Myers, which took him to 96 pitches. That was enough for Torey Lovullo, who called for Randall Delgado to pitch for the first time since last June. Randall looked sharp; he gave up a single to the first batter he faced, but then retired the next two he faced.

Phil Hughes came out to pitch the fifth for the Padres, and pitched around a leadoff Peralta single to finally put up a zero on the scoreboard for San Diego. Delgado, meanwhile, retired the Padres in order in the top of the sixth—the first time either side had managed a clean half inning. Hughes gave up another leadoff hit in the bottom of the inning, when Alex Avila smashed a the first pitch he saw into the pool for a solo jack. 16-4 DBACKS

The only further noise out of the Padres was Wil Myers’s third home run of the night, off Jorge De La Rosa in the seventh. More troubles for the Padres bullpen allowed the Diamondbacks to score three more in the bottom of the seventh, two of them coming on walks with the bases loaded, including the one that broke the Diamondbacks previous franchise record for most runs scored in a game. 19-5 DBACKS

Oh, and Ketel Marte came on in the eighth to pinch hit for JDLR, and hit a solo dinger of his own. 20-5 DBACKS

WIN PROBABILITY

Courtesy of Fangraphs.com

Three Stars: David Peralta (6AB, 5H, 3R, 3RBI, +16.3 WPA)
Two Stars: Daniel Descalso (5AB, 3H, 3R 3RBI, +16.1 WPA)
One Star: Alex Avila (3AB, 3H, 1R, 3RBI, HR, +8.0 WPA)
Honorable Mention: Paul Goldschmidt (3AB, 2H, 2R, 3RBI, HR, +7.7 WPA)

601 comments in tonight’s Game Day Thread, provided by 27 very lively commenters! Present and accounted for were: AzDbackfanInDc, AzRattler, BigSmarty, BobDolio, DORRITO, DeadManG, DesertWeagle, Gilbertsportsfan, GuruB, JTyson, Jackwriter, Keegan Thompson, Makakilo, Michael McDermott, MikeMono, MrMrrbi, Renin, Rockkstarr12, ShirtOffYourBack, Smurf1000, The so-called Beautiful, coldblueAZ, hotclaws, onedotfive, shoewizard, smartplays, suroeste

Comment of the game goes to onedotfive, for expressing a sentiment that I believe all of us have been feeling around here lately:

This was an historic night, and definitely something to witness. Thanks for reading. Tomorrow we try for the series win! Go DBacks!!!