Diamondbacks 0, Giants 1: Another night, Another shut out

Clay Buchhholz and Madison Bumgarner locked things down in a pitcher’s duel tonight, with neither offense managing to get much going against either one of them. It’s honestly what we’ve come to expect with Buchholz on the mound, and once again he did not disappoint.

Bumgarner sat the side down in order top of the first, getting a strike out of Paul Goldschmidt in the process. Buchholz went about it slightly differently, but got the same end result. He gave up a lead off single to Andrew McCutcheon, but he erased him after getting Joe Panik to ground into a double play. Evan Longoria lined out to center, completing the unorthodox 1-2-3 inning.

The Diamondbacks put together something in the second inning. Eduardo Escobar reached on an error to start the inning, but Souza Jr. popped out and Nick Ahmed grounded into a force out for the first two outs. Ketel Marte singled and Ahmed went to third, putting runners on the corners with two outs. Nothing came of it, though, as Mathis struck out, ending the inning.

In response, the Giants strung together a couple of base runners of their own in the bottom of the inning. Buchholz hit Brandon Belt with a pitch and Brandon Crawford reached on an error committed by Ahmed. He was able to wiggle out of it by getting another double play, this time off the bat of Austin Slater and then a flyout from Steven Duggar to end the inning, still scoreless.

After that, Buchholz and Bumgarner both settled into a rhythm for a couple innings. The Diamondbacks went down in order in the third, and the Giants weren’t able to do anything with a two out walk in the bottom of the inning. Paul Goldschmidt lead off with a walk in the fourth, but watched from first as the next three batters made easy outs to strand him there. In the bottom half of the fourth, Crawford hit a single, but Slater erased him on a fielder’s choice in the next at bat.

Arizona put something together in the fifth inning, but again Bumgarner and the Giants were able to work around it. Marte lead off with his 22nd double of the season. Jeff Mathis flew out on the first pitch for the first out, and Buchholz struck out on three pitches for the first two outs of the inning. Jon Jay kept it going with a walk, but Pollock flew out to end the threat.

With the game still tied at zero, it was the Giants turn to waste a threat. Nick Hundley got a one out single. Bumgarner struck out for the second out, but McCutcheon walked to keep things going. The Dbacks took the time for a mound visit, and whatever was said worked, as Panik lined out to end the inning.

Yet another missed opportunity in the top of the sixth. Goldy singled and Escobar walked to start the inning, before Souza Jr. lined out for the first out of the inning. Nick Ahmed hit a single off Bumgarner to load the bases. It just wasn’t meant to be, though. Marte grounded into a force out where they got Goldschmidt at home. Bases were still loaded, but Mathis wasn’t able to do anything with it.

Fast forward to the eighth inning. Bumganer has finally left the game, and Nick Ahmed hit a one out single. Ketel Marte flew out for the second out, bringing up David Peralta, who was pinch hitting for Jeff Mathis. He got a single, which was great! Nick Ahmed went to third! Also great! Less great was Ahmed running through the third base coach’s stop sign and getting himself thrown out at home on a throw that was so high, catcher Nick Hundley had to jump to catch it, but still managed to get the tag down in time, getting the out at the plate and ending the inning.

The tie continued to the bottom off the ninth. Zeigler came on and got one quick out, but gave up walk and a single before he got pulled in favor of Diekman. That was the ball game, as Diekman threw one pitch, gave up a single to Gorkys Hernandez, and Steven Duggar scored from second, walking the Giants off. 1-0 Giants

★★★ Clay Buchholz 43.3% (minus 14.6% for hitting)

★★ Andrew Chafin 10.5%

★ If you think I’m going to give this to Nick Ahmed, who did have the third highest WPA%, despite his basically game ending play at the plate, you are horribly mistaken

812 comments tonight, between 32 of ya’ll. Almost 300 of them came from DC, however. All present were:

AZDovs11, ArizonaSon, AzDbackfanInDc, AzRattler, DORRITO, DeadManG, ElCooCooi, GuruB, Jack Sommers, Jackwriter, Jim McLennan, Johnneu, LloydFree, Makakilo, Michael McDermott, MrMrrbi, Nathan’s T, PaulGoldsmith, Rockkstarr12, ShirtOffYourBack, SongBird, UofALifer, VegBerger, Wildcats4Life13, asteroid, coldblueAZ, edbigghead, hotclaws, kilnborn, onedotfive, pyroman168, smartplays

No red comments, so instead I’ll use this space to welcome hotclaws back from the hospital. Hopefully, this will mean a full return to health is on the horizon! And also, Good Luck to Mr. GuruB on soon starting classes that will hopefully lead to a new career. We’re all pulling for you :

Once again, the Diamondbacks look to salvage the series finale tomorrow. Be there, if you don’t have anything better to do