Dbacks 6, Rockies 3: Marte backs up Greinke’s great performance

As has been the style for the vast majority of the season, the Diamondbacks struck first, and they did so very quickly. The second batter up, Eduardo Escobar, hit a one out single to get the inning really going, bringing up David Peralta. Peralta smashed a home run to straight away center field, giving Arizona an early two-run lead. Goldschmidt followed with a walk, extending his streak of reaching base in road games to 47, but was stranded. 2-0 Diamondbacks

That lead didn’t last long, however, as Zack Greinke had a rough first inning. He gave up a lead off double to Charlie Blackmon, who then went to third on a DJ LeMahieu ground out. Nolan Arenado doubled Blackmon home, and then came home one out later on another double, this one off the bat of Trevor Story. Carlos Gonzalez grounded out, ending the inning. Tied at 2

After that, both Greinke and Antonio Sentzatela really settled in and it turned into something of a pitcher’s duel for a while. In the home half of the innings, Greinke was just cruising. After the Story RBI double, he sat down sixteen Rockies in a row before giving up a two out hit in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Meanwhile, Sentzatela wasn’t really doing much worse. Mathis got a one out single in the top of the second, but Greinke grounded into a double play to end the inning. Pollock got a double with one out in the fourth inning, but nothing came of that either. Other than that, he also was having an easy time of it, until the Dbacks got to him in the sixth inning.

It started off easily enough for him, getting Escobar and Peralta to both ground out for the first two outs, but Goldy hit a two out double to put a runner in scoring position. Pollock singled, sending Goldschmidt to third, for Ketel Marte. He hit a triple, breaking the tie, and giving Arizona their second two-run lead of the game.

However, like the first one, it didn’t last very long. Greinke sat down the first two batters he faced in the sixth inning, but his streak of batter’s retired ended when Nolan Arenado hit his 31st double of the season. He then came around to score after David Dahl hit a double of his own. However, Trevor Story grounded out, ending the inning and leaving the Diamondbacks with a one run lead.

It got a little sticky again in the seventh. Greinke got the first two outs pretty easily, but gave up yet another double, this time to pinch hitter Matt Holliday. Geraldo Parra came up as another pinch hitter, and that was the end of the night for Greinke. Chafin came in, and in response, Bud Black pulled Parra in favor of Chris Iannetta. In true Chafin fashion, he walked Iannetta and then just for good measure, walked Blackmon too, loading the bases. Once again, he left without recording an out, and once again, Ziegler came in to clean up Chafin’s mess. He did, and got a ground out to end the inning, with the score remaining 4-3 Diamondbacks

In the eighth inning, Peralta lead off with a walk. Goldschmidt struck out, and Pollock hit a ground ball to short. Originally, he was called out, but a review made him safe, putting runners on the corners with one out. Pollock stole second, but it didn’t really matter, as Ketel Marte tripled, bringing home both runners, and extending the lead by two. Unfortunately, two straight strike outs left him there, ending the inning. 6-3 Diamondbacks

That was the final score, but it wasn’t without some drama. Diekman came in to start the ninth inning and only lasted two pitches. The first pitch went as a double off the bat of Carlos Gonzalez. The second pitch was a bunt single, putting runners on first and third, nobody out. Lovullo then pulled Diekman in favor of Hirano, which honestly is what he probably should have done in the first place. He got two big strike outs from Desmond and Iannetta and a fly out to center from Blackmon to end the inning, and record his first MLB save

So much clutch from the team tonight, I can’t just pick the top three. Marte had a 27.7% WPA, Hirano 24.3%, Ziegler 22.8%, Greinke 17.7%, Peralta 15.5%, and Pollock an even 12%. On the flip side, though, Diekman’s two pitches gave him a -17.9%, and Jon Jay and Escobar both were at -11%.

Quiet game day thread. DC had 209 comments and no one else was over 40. All present were:

AZDovs11, AzDbackfanInDc, AzRattler, DeadManG, GuruB, Imstillhungry95, Jackwriter, Jim McLennan, Johnneu, Makakilo, Michael McDermott, MikeMono, MrMrrbi, Pat McCarthy, PaulGoldsmith, Rockkstarr12, ShirtOffYourBack, The so-called Beautiful, TomatoPieGuy, asteroid, coldblueAZ, dbacks13, hotclaws, onedotfive, smartplays, suroeste

Comment of the night goes to this comment about thirty seconds before Marte’s two run triple :-)

Join us again tomorrow as Patrick Corbin takes the mound, looking to make up more ground in the NL West...