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Diamondbacks News
It’s starting to look like Robbie Ray and Carson Kelly are going to be a tandem the rest of the season. It also looks like Ray might finally be getting a bit of a handle on his walk issues. Although he still only managed five innings of work on Friday night, the hard-throwing lefty only walked one, while striking out another seven. The offense showed up early, scoring three in the bottom of the first. Just as it seemed that Chicago’s Kyle Hendricks was settling in, the lineup made some adjustments and added on three more runs in the fifth inning. The win pushed Arizona’s win streak to five games, keeping pace with the Dodgers. Arizona is half a game out of first in the NL West and tied for the third-most wins in all of baseball.
Even when the Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks was keeping the snakes from scoring, they continued to put runners in scoring position. Arizona’s attention to elevating their OBP has started paying dividends.
Adam Jones is enjoying the move to playing in the west, which now allows him to play close to his hometown of San Diego.
N.Y. Giants’ Draft Motivated Locastro
Apparently Tim Locastro is not a fan of the New York Giants’ selection with their first pick of the 2019 NFL Draft. To take out his frustrations, Locastro abused opposing pitching, notching three home runs on Thursday evening.
Archie Bradley Likes Kyler Murray Pick
Count Archie Bradley among the fans of the Arizona Cardinals’ first overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft.
Around Baseball
Rizzo Donates to Phoenix Children’s Hospital
Rizzo’s charity, the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation, raised $50,000 for the local hospital.
Hit By Pitch Numbers Continue to Escalate
The 2018 season set an all-time record with 1,922 hit by pitch incidents recorded. The 2019 season is currently on pace for more than 2,000 such incidents.
Guerrero, Jr. Excites in Debut
Vlad Guerrero, Jr. made his debut on Friday. After grounding out in his first AB, the young pheno made a bid for a first-hit home run in the fourth inning. Reminiscent of his father, the young Vlad, swung at an ugly pitch in his next AB, somehow keeping the ball fair and sending it to the wall. Alas, it was snared on a great play against the wall by Oakland left fielder, Chad Pinder. Not to be denied, Guerrero doubled to lead off the ninth inning. He was then brought home by former Diamondbacks Brandon Drury on a walk-off home run three batters later.
Bellinger Setting Early-Season Records
Cody Bellinger hit his 13th home run of the season on Friday. The round-tripper gave Bellinger 88 total bases for the March/April period, breaking former teammate Chase Utley’s record of 85, set back in 2008. With four games left in the month, Bellinger will have the chance to tack on heavily and to also surpass Rafael Furcal’s record of hits for a Dodger (43) in the March/April period.
Trevor Story and the Odd Strikeout
Talk about adding insult to injury. Trevor Story began leaning into a pitch, only to find himself having to jump out of the way as it continued to break in on him. Unfortunately, momentum and balance brought the bat through the zone and Story was told to have a seat, the victim of a swinging strikeout.