Snake Pit Sim Season: 4/11 - So Much for Home Cooking

Sometimes, Robbie Ray gets bit by the number of walks he allows. Other times, he gets bit by the number of home runs he allows. Today, he was bit by both. It was an ugly evening for the Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Saturday. The woes were not limited to Robbie Ray though. The Diamondbacks managed only one base runner in each of the first, third, and fourth innings, while going in order in the second, fifth, and sixth. Senzatela had his way with Arizona’s lineup shutting out the Diamondbacks through six innings.

For the Rockies, the scoring began in the third inning with a solo shot by Trevor Story. Despite having issued a walk and a single in the first, Ray still looked to be mostly in control He shook off the homer by Story and recorder two more quick outs. He then plowed through the Rockies in the fourth, sitting them back down in order.

But, as things sometimes will with Ray, things got ugly in the fifth inning. The fifth started off well enough. Ray struck out Elias Diaz, stretching his streak to six batters in a row retired since the home run to Story. It looked like Ray was preparing to turn in one of his gems. Looks proved to be deceiving. The next batter was the Colorado pitcher, Senzatela. On a 1-0 count, Senzatela lined a pitch over the head of Eduardo Escobar at third and into the corner for a stand-up double. A single to Garrett Hampson put runners on the corners. Ray then walked Trevor Story on five pitches to load the bases. David Dahl then came to the plate. Ray quickly got out in front with two strikes but wound up eventually walking Dahl, forcing in a run. That brought up Nolan Arenado. Arenado singled to left and Hampson scored on the play beating the throw home by Peralta. That kept the bases loaded for Charlie Blackmon. Blackmon drew a four-pitch walk, bringing home yet another run, while continuing to keep the bases loaded. This brought Yonathan Daza. After issuing a four-pitch walk to Blackmon, Ray carved up Daza like a Thanksgiving Day turkey with a three pitch strikeout. It was then Daniel Murphy’s turn to step into the box against Ray. With the count 1-1, Murphy launched a grand slam 400 feet to right center field. At that point, Virtual Lovullo had seen enough. He put an end to Ray’s day and brought in Merrill Kelly. Kelly faced off against Diaz with the bases empty and wound up needing only one pitch to finally end the fifth inning. The damage was done though. The Rockies led by a score of 8-0.

With an eight run lead, Senzatela was sent back out to pitch in the seventh inning. After six innings of futility, Arizona’s offense finally started to put some good swings on the Colorado starter. Eduardo Escobar started things off with a single to right. Kole Calhoun then sent a triple rolling to the track in right center to score Escobar. This brought up Jake Lamb. Lamb tattooed a ball to left (EV 108.8). That wound up going for a single, as the ball was hit so hard that the throw was already on its way back in as Lamb was rounding first. Stephen Vogt then worked an eight-pitch walk. This brought up Nick Ahmed with runners on first and second with nobody out. A wild pitch allowed the runners to move up. Ahmed then grounded out to the right side, allowing Lamb to easily score from third. With runners on the corners, Lovullo turned to Christian Walker to pinch-hit for Merrill Kelly. Walker crushed a pitch to straightaway center field that was somehow tracked down on the warning track by Dahl despite an exit velocity of 110 mph. That scored Vogt from third without a throw. Starling Marte then grounded out to end the inning.

The Diamondbacks tried to get something going in the ninth, going so far as to wind up with runners on first and second with two out. However, the Rockies then turned to Jairo Diaz, who proved to be up to the task of slamming the door on any last-out rally.

Final Score: COL 8 - AZ 4

The player of the game was Trevor Story. With a home run, a double, and two walks, he was all sorts of bad news for Ray and contributed significantly to running the power lefty from the game early. Tomorrow is the rubber game between these two clubs. The Rockies will send right-hander Kyle Loyd to the mound. The Diamondbacks will counter with lefty, Madison Bumgarner.