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Luke Weaver narrowly avoided another tough luck loss on Saturday. Despite Arizona’s offense once again going cold, the young right-hander delivered a stellar performance leading to Another Arizona win. As has been the case of late, Weaver was dominant. He struck out nine batters and managed to not walk a single member of the Reds. The only frame in which Weaver ran into a spot of trouble was the fourth.
In the fourth inning, Joey Votto started things off by taking a pitch off the arm. Mike Moustakas followed by flying out to center. Jesse Winkler singled, moving Votto to second. Then Mike Payton flew out to right. Josh Rojas made a nice play on the deep fly and managed to fire the ball back in off his catch, freezing Votto at second. Tucker Barnhart then lined a pitch to the wall in front of the pool. Rojas fielded the carom cleanly and fired the ball back in. Barnhart tested the relay, sliding in under the tag by Carson Kelly at home. That was all the scoring which Cincinnati was able to muter in the game.
For Arizona, Ryan Mountcastle continued his boom or bust approach, launching another home run at 108.8 mph down the left field line onto the concourse. Nick Ahmed had a home run of his own in the fifth. Ahmed also scored a run after reaching base via the walk. Quietly, Ahmed continues his slow but steady improvement with the bat. His offense now clocks in at 92 OPS+, giving him the slightest positive value with the bat, to add to the considerable value he continues to provide with the glove.
Playing a tight game and looking to close the gap with the Dodgers, the Diamondbacks turned to the bullpen for the final two innings, giving the Reds the double-shot. First, they were forced to face lefty Will Smith in the eighth. He was perfect. Then, the Snakes switched things up and let the Reds see a righty, Archie Bradley. He too, was perfect.
Final Score: CIN 2 - AZ 3
The final game of the weekend series is tomorrow afternoon. Madison Bumgarner will face Robert Stephenson.
The Diamondbacks are once again only two games behind the Dodgers for the NL West lead and lead the Wild Card standings by six games.