Snake Bytes: 05/20 - Winning at Wrigley

Diamondbacks News

[AZ Central] Zac Gallen pushes through tough 5th, helps Diamondbacks stop 6-game losing streak

“I knew it was a moment that I kind of had to rise to the occasion,” he [Gallen, DBE] said. “The emotions started to build up a little bit. The crowd gets loud here. They were fighting for the momentum. It was good to get out of there and (my emotions) kind of came out as I was coming off the mound.”

[dbacks.com] Best way to end a skid? Hand the ball to Gallen

“It was a little bit of a wrestling match between he and I,” Lovullo said. “He wanted to go back out, which I always appreciate. I knew he jumped 40 pitches. Like I said, I’m concerned about the human being at that point. I don’t want to put him in a situation where he’s going to be injured. So it’s tough taking him out, he wanted to go back out, he felt like he was just catching a groove, but I wasn’t going to have it.”

“Torey is always looking out for my health,” Gallen said. “So in that sense, I appreciate it, but I always want the ball no matter what.”

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks 1B Christian Walker keeps faith in approach, reaps May rewards

Mather said one thing Walker tried to eliminate were the miss-hits that were resulting in him getting slightly under balls. Walker would use a Rapsodo hit tracker during batting practice, Mather said, trying to target launch angles in a particular range.

“Balls hit at certain launch angles, like 15 (degrees) to 35, say, over 95 mph, you should (get rewarded for those),” Mather said. “That’s pretty square. You’re hitting that ball pretty well. … We’ve kind of pushed 0 to 30 degrees and over 90, 95, and said, ‘Let’s not even worry about those balls in the air. Let’s get it down and it is what it is.’”

[MLB Trade Rumors] D-backs place C Jose Herrera on COVID-IL, select C Grayson Greiner from Reno

Herrera joins Hummel, Ahmed and Nelson on the COVID-IL. Greiner signed a minor league deal with the Snakes during Spring Training. That marked his first experience outside the Tigers’ organization, as he’d spent seven-plus seasons with Detroit since they nabbed him in the third round of the 2014 draft. Greiner tallied 477 big league plate appearances between 2018-21, hitting .201/.274/.309 with nine home runs.

Around The MLB

[mlb.com] 6 things I learned watching the pitch clock in action

The clock works.

[mlb.com] Prospects Gorman, Liberatore joining Cards

That the two prospects will be arriving to the Majors together is serendipitous, but fitting. They have been friends since age 5, when they met while playing on the same neighborhood coach-pitch team. They were then teammates on travel ball teams and with elite programs like Team USA, before becoming roommates in the Minor Leagues.

[ESPN] New York Mets’ Max Scherzer out 6-8 weeks with oblique strain

“Just felt a zing on my left side and just knew I was done,” Scherzer said Wednesday. “When I felt it, I just knew there’s no way you can throw another pitch, so just get out of there.”