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Diamondbacks News
Merrill Kelly had a strong bounceback start against the cellar-dwelling Giants. The right-hander pitched 5 1⁄3 innings of shutout ball, allowing six hits and walking only one. Yoshihisa Hirano came on in relief and provided 1 1⁄3 innings of scoreless pitching out of an inherited bases loaded jam. Eduardo Escobar broke things wide open with a bases loaded triple in the seventh to put Arizona up by six.
Kelly Provides Necessary Length
Merrill Kelly gave the Diamondbacks the length they needed on Friday night, paving the way for the team to run Zack Godley out as Saturday evening’s starter.
Hiraon Shines to Reward Lovullo with 200th Win
Merrill Kelly ran into trouble in the sixth inning, loading the bases with only one out and only a one-run lead. To get out of the jam, Torey Lovullo turned the ball over to reliever Yoshihisa Hirano. The Diamondbacks’ set-up man did not disappoint, stranding the base runners right where they were when he entered the game. The win was Lovullo’s 200th as manager of the Diamondbacks.
Starting Pitcher Injury Updates
It was a good news/bad news day for the Arizona Diamondbacks when it came to updates on injuries to their starting pitchers. Much to the relief of the organization and Diamondbacks fans everywhere, Zack Greinke’s MRI came back clean and he will toss a bullpen session on Saturday to see where he goes next. On the bad news front, Taijuan Walker suffered from a sprained capsule in his throwing shoulder. The rehabbing right-hander receive a PRP injection and will be shut down from all throwing for six weeks. This will require Walker to start his throwing program over from the beginning, pushing back his possible return to late-August or early-September, if he makes it back for 2019 action at all.
Zack Godley Tabbed for Saturday’s Start
Thanks to Merrill Kelly’s ability to save the bullpen from picking up extra innings of work on Friday, Zack Godley will make the “spot stat” for his turn in the rotation on Saturday.
The Diamondbacks After a Quarter-Season
What have the first 40 games of the season taught us about the 2019 Arizona Diamondbacks?
Around Baseball
Marlins on Pace for Historic Futility
The level of suck the Miami Marlins have plummeted to over the last week is truly astounding.
Indeed, it’s been a bleak week-plus for the Miami nine. They’ve lost seven games in a row, and so their theoretical highlight reel for the May 7-16 period would consist of a rainout and two off days. They scored a grand total of eight runs in that span, never more than two in a game in a stretch that includes back-to-back walk-off losses to the Cubs and back-to-back shutouts by the Rays. Did I mention that it’s been a full week since the last Marlins position player drove in a run, or 11 days since one of their players homered? Or that it’s the team’s only homer this month, hit by a 29-year-old rookie named Jon Berti? I kid you not.
Dazzling Defense Makes Ball Disappear
Bonus Points for José Iglesias’ nonchalant glove-flip at the end of the play.
30 Prospects Who Were Draft Sleepers
One prospect from each team’s top prospects list who came out of nowhere in the draft. For Arizona, that would be RHP, Kevin Ginkel, selected in the 22nd round.