Snake Bytes 5/2: Sometimes You’re the Hammer. Sometimes You’re the Nail.

Arizona Diamondbacks 6, Colorado Rockies 14

[D’backs.com] Gallen, Smith knocked off track by Rockies - Zac Gallen has been the D-backs’ most reliable starter over the past two years. Caleb Smith had been nearly unhittable out of the bullpen over the past month. But over the course of a 162-game season, pitchers are going to have off nights. That was the case for both Gallen and Smith in Arizona’s 14-6 loss to Colorado at Chase Field on Saturday night. Gallen gave up four runs for only the third time in 31 career starts, while Smith allowed a pair of runs, the first charged against him since April 9. Gallen labored through four innings, with most of the Rockies’ damage against the right-hander coming in the fourth. He couldn’t preserve the D-backs’ early 2-1 lead, as Raimel Tapia tied the game with an RBI single and Ryan McMahon put Colorado on top, 4-2, with a two-run single.

[Arizona Sports] Zac Gallen gives up 4 runs over 4 innings in D-backs’ blowout loss - “We kept making noise offensively,” Lovullo said. “I felt like things were always constantly rumbling and we were in what I felt like was a crash course for a big inning to take the lead. But I think things obviously got out of control there late in the game and we had to maneuver and do things a little differently than we had planned.” Rojas was a bright spot at the dish in his 3-for-4 night. Over his last eight games, Rojas is batting .407 with two doubles, three homers and eight RBIs. Andrew Young continues to have a nice season as well and contributed his first career pinch-hit home run in the sixth. He is hitting .375 this season. The D-backs starting lineup, which consisted of four players hitting below .200, went three up, three down in three of the four innings they were in the game. Despite the efforts by the offense, the Rockies were able to add 10 more runs against the D-backs bullpen in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.

[AZ Central] May Day: Diamondbacks start new month giving up 18 hits in loss to Rockies - Raimel Tapia remained a Diamondbacks’ killer, collecting four hits. Trevor Story clubbed a key, two-run homer in the sixth off lefty Caleb Smith. Dom Nunez blasted a grand slam in the eighth to break the game open. Tapia, in particular, seemed to be on Lovullo’s mind. Time and again over the past several seasons, Tapia has delivered costly blows against the Diamondbacks, including some memorable ones against former reliever Archie Bradley. On Saturday, he delivered the first of three consecutive two-out hits off Gallen in a three-run fourth inning. By most measures, Tapia is not a very good hitter. His approach is questionable, his power limited. And yet when he faces the Diamondbacks he seems to transform into something else. He owns a career .358 average against Diamondbacks pitching. “It’s a conversation we had for two innings in the dugout,” Lovullo said, when asked about Tapia’s production against them. “He continues to be a thorn in our side, with some big hits — not just extra, add-on hits — but big hits. We’ve got to do a better job of executing an attack plan, that’s what it means to me. “He’s a good player. Puts the barrel on the baseball. It seems to find holes. It’s a good observation, and we need to do a better job of controlling him.”

Around the League

[NBC Sports] Phillies top Mets 2-1 in bench-clearing, trash-talking opener - Phillies reliever Jose Alvarado thumped his glove and gestured at Dominic Smith after a strikeout ended a rally. Smith pulled off his helmet and the Mets left fielder seemed ready to fight back against the jabbering pitcher until both teams spilled out of the dugout and broke up the dust up before punches were thrown. Miguel Castro responded with a pair of inside heaters that had Phillies slugger Rhys Hoskinsmomentarily steamed. The Mets and Phillies turned the eighth inning into a bench-emptying, trash-talking, finger-pointing commotion that spiced up a routine game — and could ignite more sparks this weekend — in the Phillies’ 2-1 win on Friday night.

[CBS Sports] Dodgers’ Dustin May exits start vs. Brewers after suffering right-arm injury - Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Dustin Maydeparted Saturday’s start against the Milwaukee Brewers in the second inning after suffering a right-arm injury, per Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times. May signaled to the dugout after delivering a pitch, all the while wincing from apparent pain. May completed 1 ⅔ innings, permitting a walk and a run on a Luis Urías home run. He struck out three batters and he averaged 98.3 mph on his fastball. His final pitch was a 94 mph fastball that registered as his slowest of the season, per SB Nation’s Eric Stephen. (For reference, his seasonal average was 98.4 mph.)

[USA Today] ‘He’s disrespecting us’: Benches clear after Amir Garrett strikes out Anthony Rizzo - Amir Garrett and Anthony Rizzo certainly have plenty of history against each other, a frequent left-on-left matchup when the Cincinnati Reds play the Chicago Cubs. When Garrett struck out Rizzo for the second out in the eighth inning Saturday, he shouted from the mound and pounded his chest several times. Reds manager David Bell said he thought Garrett was speaking to himself and showing excitement. The Cubs clearly thought otherwise. Rizzo glanced at the mound on his walk back to the dugout, but Rizzo’s teammates, particularly Javier Báez, took exception to it.

[ESPN] MLB hopes offensive numbers perk up after historically rough April for hitters - MLB hitters hope that turning the calendar will also turn the page on an anemic April for offenses around the league. Major league batters are hitting just .232 overall through April, down from .252 two years ago and under the record low of .237 set over the infamous 1968 season that resulted in a lower pitcher’s mound. Hits are averaging a record-low 7.63 per game after fluctuating from eight to 10 from 1937 through last year, excepting 1968’s dip to a then-alarming 7.91.