Diamondbacks 1, Giants 5: Grace under pressure

Record: 13-15. 162-game equivalent: 35-40. Change on 2019: -3.

Shepherds Pie is the feature on tonight’s Pilcher Household menu and that pairs quite well with copious amounts of beer.

Hopefully the Dbacks performance will only further heighten this culinary experience.

Let’s find out......

Beer 1: Strawberry Sournova by Almanac Beer Co 5.3% ABV

One of you commenters mentioned you’d like to see more beer reviews with my Beercaps, and I’m happy to oblige.

This barrel aged sour, and probably because it’s barrel aged, tastes only mildly of strawberry and vanilla bean. That’s a good thing, for I’ve had many sours that are FULL FORCE fruit and tart. The barrel aging helps mellow those flavors out, and this is true in most barrel aged beers in that once intense flavors calm down to make the beer far more enjoyable.

The 1st starts out showcasing more of the same struggles we’ve been having again left handed pitching, which I’m mildly surprised has been as bad as it had. Though some of that might be due to so few batters seeing left handed pitching while lockdown was instituted. Hopefully they’ll snap out of it today.

Gallen is not looking like Gallen here in the 1st; walking the first three batters will give you that kind of impression. Luckily a double play and a strike out later and we’re only down 0-1. Gallen’s not looking hot, but I’ll take that kind of inning considering what it could have been.

Still no bats for us in the 2nd, and Gallen is still dodging bullets in the bottom of the frame. Leaving us with the same 1 run deficit despite Gallen and our bats deserving a far worse score. I’m hoping one side or the other of that coin will redeem themselves soon.

Still another 1-2-3 inning to close out our bats in the 3rd. I’m left baffled as to how we can string off 7wins in a row only to have our offense completely shut off after that. What the hell???!?!?!?!?!?! 0-1 Giants going in to the bottom of the 3rd.

Beer 2: Juice Nukem by Moonraker Brewing Co 8%ABV

Wow, this beer lives up to it’s name. It’s like Duke Nukem is beating the ever loving $%&# out of me with a hop shotgun filled with the juiciest and most tropical hop pellets. You could replace your brunch OJ with this beer and really only wonder who added the passion fruit and pineapple. Good stuff.

What’s not good is our bats, once more doing nada here in the 4th and this game just zips along at breakneck speed. The only caveat being is that Gallen should be down by far more than what he is.

Gallen to his credit though does look to have settled down quite a bit in the 4th, but we need those bats. NEEEDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My prayers have yet to be answered as we go in to the top of the 6th, but Gallen appears to be back in form. May he forgive me for doubting him, and my I continue to worship his devastating pitches.

Yaz, the Yazman, just stole a hit from Marte that likely would have driven in Kole to tie this game. Seriously, is it so much to ask for a break? Just a little one? Please!?!?!?!? 0-1 Giants

Gallen is somehow still dealing. That’s what I love about him. Yea he’ll get a bad inning or give up a bad hit, but he’s a cold blooded killer. He puts his leather gloves back on, gets back up and completes the contract. No words, no emotions, Gallen just does his job.

Beer 3: Respect the Send by Dark Sky Brewing Co 8.5% ABV

I used to almost exclusively drink West Coast style IPA, known for their bitter forward taste, but with the dawn of New England Style IPAs my taste buds have migrated to greener pastures. This beer makes me pine for those old hunting grounds of yore. It’s very bitter (86 IBUs) but like any truly good west coast IPA it’s actually quite balanced, with some good maltiness coming in at the end to balance out that bitter.

Speaking of balance, we’re now tied, thanks to a Peralta single to drive in S Marte. Now we’re back to a game folks! 1-1 going in to the bottom of the 7th.

Grace take over for Gallen (no, not that Grace) and quickly decides it’d be a swell idea to load the bases with no outs. Good feelings going quickly.

Good feelings officially gone as Guerra walks in the go ahead run. Why is he pitching still? Like at all? Anyone?

2 runs walked in now by Guerra. 1-3 Giants.

Followed by another run, but now with and out......yay. 1-4 Giants

And then another. 1-5 Giants.

I’m disgusted, and I’m over this. Bells and whistles by Jim. I’m going to switch to bourbon.

Bells and whistles, by Jim

We were viewing a submission for the film festival, so tuned in just in time for that hellacious inning. Ugly, ugly stuff. But on a night like this, where the offense musters a season-low three hits, it probably didn’t matter ALL that much. Suffice to say, that six-game winning streak seems a distant memory. But all credit to Gallen, even as he improved his record to... 0-0. It’s the best-pitched six game no-decision streak to start a season since Cal Eldred had a 1.67 ERA in 1998. Well, unless you count Ryan Stanek, who was 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA in seven starts. But that was as an opener for the Rays last year, which made it kinda hard to get any kind of decision.

What? You’re here for the Fangraph? Well, if you insist...

Present in the Gameday Thread were: Augdogs, AzDbackfanInDc, AzRattler, ChuckJohnson56, DeadManG, Gilbertdbackfan, GuruB, HeathKBar, Jack Sommers, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Justin27, Makakilo, Michael McDermott, NikT77, Oldenschoole, Preston Salisbury, Schilling2001, Smurf1000, Snake_Bitten, TheOlser4, edbigghead, kilnborn, makattack71, onedotfive, route66catering. Comment of the thread, by a landslide, goes to tomorrow’s guest recapper, Justin27.

Hopefully, Justin can sustain that form for tomorrow’s recap. Because if the offense continues to play like he did, we’ll need all the wit and wisdom he can muster. Oh, and it’s a Luke Weaver start. 1:10 pm first pitch, if you can’t find something better to do.