Arizona Diamondbacks 3, Philadelphia Phillies 2: David Peralta, We are Not Worthy

After jumping back into first place, the Diamondbacks fought hard but ended up losing to the NL East leading Philadelphia Phillies. A pitcher’s duel between Jake Arrieta and Zack Godley with the former getting the upper hand as a bad seventh inning spelled doom for the team. However, a hard fought game ended in a W for the Snakes.

This game was an utter snooze-fest (until the end), unless you’re into pitcher’s duels. Which this recapper is. Arrieta was dominant posting an 8-inning scoreless affair while adding 4 strikeouts on 2 walks and 3 hits which allowed the Phillies to swing away and take advantage of a tired Godley.

The first inning saw both teams fall 1-2-3 with very few at bats going past the 4-pitch mark. The second inning saw a few fireworks with a Carlos Santana single, an Asdrubal Cabrera HBP, an Eduardo Escobar double (his 40^th) and a Daniel Descalso walk. It just so happened that each of those half innings ended in double plays. The only eventful happening of the third inning was the overturned challenge on a Zack Godley bunt. A double from Steven Souza Jr on a first pitch slider (middle low, at 89.7 mph). As you can see, there is a theme here. That isn’t a negative on this game, given how masterful each pitcher was.

To save you some time, we will jump to the seventh inning. This was the Phillies inning for sure! Asdrubal Cabrera was the first to get on base as a single to center field gave the Phillies the game wining run with one of their best players hitting. Odubel Herrera did just what you would want him to do and roped a triple to deep center field on a sinker that was middle low. At about 90.6 mph, he roped it which scored Asdrubal Cabrera. A sac fly would be the only other run of the inning which came off of the bat of young defensive star Jorge Alfaro.

Zack Godley was replaced by T.J. McFarland and then Matt Andriese after 7.2 innings. Jake Arrieta was removed from the game in the top of the ninth inning. Seranthony Dominguez replaced the former Cub and the fireworks soon began!

After a Goldy ground out, David Peralta put a ball out to right center field. Peralta laced a 89.2 mph slider that tailed back into the bat path of Peralta. Eduardo Escobar followed suit by pelting a ball to left field on a 96.3 mph fastball. Escobar had two doubles on the night and worked the count to 6 pitches which allowed him to get his pitch. Steven Souza Jr added the second run of the game with a single up the middle. Souza roped a fastball, he was not about to miss. Luis Garcia got a Daniel Descalso strikeout and a Nick Ahmed walk which brought Alex Avila up to the plate. On a 2-0 two seamer that had to be picked by Alfaro, Torey called for the double steal which worked to perfection. With runners on second and third, Avila was able to draw the walk. A.J. Pollock approached the plate, one swing away from delivering a momentum swinging Win for the Diamondbacks…

However, a ground out to Cesar Hernandez took the game to extra innings.

Roll Call:

An outstanding 681 comments flooded the gameday thread. With 33 commenters joining us throughout this matchup, the commenter of the game was DORRITO who spoke for all of us when he said, “Holy Crap.”

Snake Stars

☆☆☆: David Peralta: 4-7, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 HR (including the walk off)
☆☆: Steven Souza Jr: 2-5, R, BB, 1 RBI
☆: Rally Baboon

Fangraphs:

Diamondbacks:

• Positive WPA’s (10%+): Yoshi Hirano 30.4%, Brad Boxberger 15.2%, Steven Souza Jr 22.8%, Archie Bradley 15.2%, Andrew Chafin 15.2%, Zack Godley 11.7%, David Peralta 57.4%
• Negative WPA’s(-10%+): Jon Jay -39.7%, Paul Goldschmidt -17.9%, Daniel Descalso -34.3%, A.J. Pollock -16.6%, Jeff Mathis -11.5%

Phillies:

• Positive WPA’s (10%+): Jake Arrieta 56.8%, Tommy Hunter 30.4%, Victor Arano 24.2%, Luis Garcia 14.6%
• Negative WPA’s (-10%+): Austin Davis -34.8%, Sereanthony Dominguez -53.9%, Cesar Hernandez -19.0%, Rhys Hoskins -10.0%, Nick Williams -17.3%, Scott Kingery -16.0, Maikel Franco -10.9%

The tenth inning was eventful for the Fightin Phils as two walks were erased by Brad Boxberger. Adam Morgan replaced Garcia as Morgan induced a ground out from Jon Jay. Gabe Kapler decided to use a double switch which allowed valley standout Dylan Cozens to enter the game. Victor Arano replaced Nick Williams.

Goldy was able to line a single up the middle through a slight shift which brought David Perlata up to the plate. A routine fly ball turned into a base hit as Herrera could not get to it in time. Eduardo Escobar shot a deep fly ball that just missed the over hang. A check swing dribbler ended the inning for the Diamondbacks.

Archie Bradley replaced Brad Boxberger for the 11th inning. Bradley continued his use of the fastball which was enough to work through the Phillies 6-7-8 hitters. The 12th inning wasn’t eventufl as the 13th inning brought about two runners on, the inning ended on a Jon Jay flyout.

As the 14th inning rolled on, nightmares of my first recap (THAT extra inning Dodgers game) came about. A Paul Goldschmidt walk and another David Peralta home run sent us home!

D-Backs win the ballgame!!