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If the Diamondbacks seem to have been playing an awful lot of catch-up baseball this season, that’s because they have. Five of their six wins so far have seen them trailing at some point, with the exception being the 4-1 win in Texas on July 28, where they scored three in the top of the first inning. That’s exceptional in other ways too: over their other fifteen games, Arizona have managed a total of just ONE run through the first two innings. All told, the D-backs have been outscored 22-4 through two frames - that’s more than a run per game deficit over the first six outs. Seven times already, they have been trailing at the end of the first - all but one of those contests have ended in losses.
Thus far, today’s starter Robbie Ray has been more the problem than the solution, giving up seven earned runs over the opening two innings of his trio of starts. Those have come on eight hits and three walks, but the problem is mostly the three home-runs allowed over those six innings. First time through the order, opponents have been hitting Ray at a .333 clip (8-for-24 with those three HR). The good news is, he has been doing better there the second time through: a .238 average (5-for-21). The bad news? More walks than strikeouts, meaning that the opponents’ OBP the second time balloons to an ugly .407. Coors Field is not exactly the place you want to go to correct this kind of thing. Fingers crossed is all I got.
Pre-game audio
Andy Young
- Interesting back story of how Padres Pitcher Matt Straham who was his High School teammate convinced him to “give the baseball thing a try” at Junior College in Kansas. Previously Young was going to an NAI school in North Dakota focusing on academics. So he owes a big thanks to Straham for encouraging him to keep playing, and here he is in the majors.
Torey Lovullo
- Ketel Marte in 2 hole is more or less permanent for now, vs, both RHP and LHP to give him more RBI opportunities
- Stephen Vogt given 4 of last 6 starts, Torey planned this in advance, filling out the lineup sheet 6 days in advance where he decided to give Carson just 2 starts. Related to Kelly’s slow start and trying to get Vogt’s bat in the lineup more. It seems roles have flipped
- Madison Bumgarner’s “Middle Back Pain” is in the upper middle back, between the shoulder blades. He had imaging done and the results that came back were good accordingly to Torey but he did not elaborate in detail.
- Jeremy Beasley will be used for long relief as Widener and Clarke are still in “rest mode” due to long outings over the weekend. It’s not yet been decided who will take Bumgarner’s spot in the rotation next turn.