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Preview, #150: 9/15 vs. Reds

Considering the D-backs have scored just 13 runs over the last eight games, it’s quite impressive they are 2-6

San Diego Padres v Arizona Diamondbacks Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images

Today's Lineups

REDS DIAMONDBACKS
Phillip Ervin - LF Wilmer Flores - 2B
Josh VanMeter - 2B Ketel Marte - CF
Eugenio Suarez - 3B Eduardo Escobar - 3B
Aristides Aquino - RF Christian Walker - 1B
Tucker Barnhart - C Josh Rojas - LF
Michael Lorenzen - CF Adam Jones - RF
Brian O'Grady - 1B Nick Ahmed - SS
Jose Peraza - SS Alex Avila - C
Trevor Bauer - RHP Zac Gallen - RHP

The D-backs have had worse eight game offensive streaks. Just not by much, and not recently. There have been two such independent i.e. not overlapping spells: curiously, the last happened eight seasons ago, and the first eight more years before that. I guess we should probably anticipate the next one showing up in 2027. Even odder, the team has the same 2-6 record in each of the three worst eight-game scoring streaks in franchise history, managing to squeeze out a couple of wins on each of the two previous occasions, in the same way they have a 2-0 and a 1-0 win during this current run. Here are details of those two previous dry spells.

July 22-29, 2003: 10 runs, .223/.288/.293 = .581 OPS

They were swept by the Giants, scoring a total of four runs, then somehow managed to take a series against the Dodgers at Chase, despite scoring a total of just three times. They won the opener, squeaking through in 15 innings by a 2-1 margin, despite outhitting Los Angeles 12-3. The following day, Elmer Dessens and three relievers combined on a six-hitter, while Dessens drove in the Diamondbacks’ only run. The pitcher having the game’s sole RBI - with the only triple of his 14-year MLB career, no less! - probably deserved inclusion in yesterday’s review of great 1-0 wins. They dropped the finale, and were swept in Miami, scoring only four runs. That was a total of 11 runs over a nine-game span.

August 16-23, 2011: 12 runs, .168/.238/.248 = .486 OPS

This was the road trip from offensive hell, through Philadelphia, Atlanta and Washington. These eight games were bookended with wins, beginning with a 3-2 victory over the Phillies, courtesy of Lyle Overbay’s two-run double off Roy Halladay in the ninth. The next six games saw Arizona manage only seven runs in total, including a sweep by the Braves where the D-backs scored three times. However, they beat the Nationals 2-0 behind Ian Kennedy, and that kick-started the team onto a nine-win streak. The boot during that was on the other streak, with the D-backs conceding just 12 runs in those nine games, and holding the opposition to zero or one runs in six of them.