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Diamondbacks News
Arizona’s offense was kept silent in dominating fashion by the Pirates’ Joe Musgrove. The Diamondbacks managed only one hit and two walks in seven innings, not bringing a fifth batter to the plate in any inning before the eighth. Luke Weaver was not his sharpest, but he still managed to throw six innings of three-run ball. Zack Godley then came in and allowed Pittsburgh to score three insurance runs., none of which were needed, despite an eighth inning home run by Carson Kelly.
Musgrove Silences Arizona Bats
Mixing up a four-seam fastball down and away with his cutter, Pittsburgh’s hurler managed to induce plenty of soft contact and swings-and-misses from Arizona’s lineup.
Arizona Finds Poor Solution to Stranding Base Runners
The story of the last two weeks for Arizona has been their inability to push runners across, leaving 62 runners on base in the seven games against Tampa Bay and Atlanta. On Tuesday, they were 1-for-1 with runners on. Joe Musgrove needed on 75 pitches to entirely shut down the Diamondbacks for seven innings.
Lovullo Claims Godley Could Start Saturday
Don’t look now, but it seems Arizona might be trying to experiment with the opener concept with regard to Zack Godley and his role on the team. Due to roster management, neither Taylor Clarke nor Jon Duplantier will be available.
Diamondbacks Need Someone to Step Up in Wake of Bradley’s Struggles
Archie Bradley’s struggles are beginning to have a knock-on effect to the rest of the bullpen. Despite seeing fewer high leverage scenarios, he now is having trouble simply getting outs. The result is the rest of the bullpen is now having to do more, as is the offense.
Around Baseball
Hunter PEnce’s final two seasons with San Francisco were abysmal, especially 2018. Not surprisingly, the Giants chose to move on from the eccentric right fielder once the 2018 season was over. Now, with a revamped swing, Pence is hitting like it’s 2014 all over again.
The Atlanta Braves are promoting their top position player prospect, Austin Riley, a consensus top-50 prospect. He will join their young core of dynamic talent as they try to make a move in the NL East.
Vlad Jr. HIts First Two Homers
It’s no secret that Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. has gotten off to a quiet start to his MLB career. He started to change that narrative on Tuesday night by hitting not just his first, but also his second career home runs. In doing so, he broke former NBA standout Danny Ainge’s long-held record of being the youngest Blue Jay to homer.
Don’t look now, but Chris Sale has found his mojo. The Red Sox ace set the record for most strikeouts in a start of seven innings or fewer, striking out 17 batters on 108 pitches through seven innings of work.