Diamondbacks 6, Braves 2: Th-th-that’s all, folks!

Record: 24-25. Pace: 79-83. Change on 2021: +6.

Happy Memorial Day!

Most of you are hopefully grilling and on your 15th beer. If not, you had best catch up yo.

I’m enjoying a pint of Extral Pulp American IPA, which is likely superior to any beer you’re currently having. I’m not saying, but I am saying.

Inning 1:

Acuna leads things off against our vaunted Gallen with a leadoff single. Our former prospect Swanson quickly advances him over to 3rd and we’re in early trouble with Braves on the corner with no outs.

Gallen’s wild pitch brings Acuna in from third to give the braves an early 0-1 lead, but despite looking very hittable (shocking to me at least) he gets out of the 1st with only the one run.

Marte gets things going with a 2out infield single and then Peralta lucks out a bloop double to put Dbacks on 2nd and 3r with Pavin Smith at bat.

LET’S GOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Smith ends the life of that pitch from Strider (a 99mph heater, shown below) and we’re very much in this game folks with a 3-1 lead.

Inning 2:

2ks, a single and a ground out has Gallen right back on track after a rocky 1st. Hoping that keeps trending, because we sure as hell need this win after getting our souls crushed by the Dodgers last series.

No dice for our bats in the 2nd as Strider also seems to settle back in, though I feel like his 99-ish mph fastball will again meet a squared up Dbat sooner than later. For now though we’re off to the 3rd with our heroes still leading 3-1.

Inning 3:

Wow, Strider’s done %&$#ing around as he records his 6th K and otherwise baffles our bats. He’s still not looking perfect, but swhen you’re effectively locating fastballs hovering close to 100MPH you don’t have to be perfect.

Inning 4:

Riley get’s this game a bit closer for the Braves with a drive in to the pool making it a 3-2 Dbacks lead. Despite that rough homer Gallen still comes through, but with his pitch count at 68 you gotta wonder how soon his evening will be over.

Strider cruises once more through the Dbacks and records his 7th K. He aint Randy, but he’s throwing some big boy heat. 3-2 going in to the 5th....

Inning 5:

Whelp, drama’s happening right now as Torey gets ejected (above), sticking up for Gallen after words got exchanged between him and umpire Libka.

Doesn’t appear that this drama is helping Gallen at all as we’re 1 out in to the inning with Braves at 2nd and 3rd.

Gallen dials it in though and strikes out the next 2 braves, thus salvaging what could have been a disastrous inning.

Strider’s night is blessedly over after a Herrera single and Varsho walk, still a pretty impressive outing with 7 K’s, so I’m more than happy to put him behind us.

Marte! Strider’s exit leads o tacos for all of the Valley as he strings a 2-out double (below) to center putting our lead at a comfortable 5-2.

Peralta tacks on another run with a single to right and we’re now at an even more comfortable 6-2 lead.

Inning 6:

Gallen’s night ends here in the 6th with 2outs. He’s had a solid night, though not quite the All Star numbers he’s put up in prior outings. Still, I can’t complain too much: 6k’s and only 2ERs is pretty dang solid in my book. Ramirez finishing things off for us in the 6th and we’re off to the bottom of the frame up 6-2.

Perdomo keeps things interesting in the bottom of the 6th with a 2out double, but Herrera can’t quite make it happen and our lead stays as is going in to the 7th.

Inning 7:

Nothing doing in the 7th as our pen holds sway and our bats fall silent. Can’t complain with this kind of lead, but more insurance runs is always a good thing.

Inning 8:

Kennedy comes in for Ramirez here in the 8th, and despite allowing a double he ensure we get through the inning without any blood allowed.

Our bats are once more quiet, so we’re off to the (hopefully) end of this game still with our commanding lead.

Inning 9:

Our oft confounding closer Melancon comes in here in the 9th to close things out. He forces Duvall to fly out and then strikes out Contreras before forcing Acuna in to a pop up.

We’re back to being winners folks!!!!!!!!!

Bells and whistles, by Jim

Here’s what Gallen had to say about the ejection after the game. Zac was quite surprised by the event, and did not realize that his manager had been ejected initially. When he came back to the dugout, he thanked Lovullo for having his back.

Zac Gallen audio

Torey Lovullo expected the team to respond, and was pleased how the team responded, and felt it was a really good game for us, even though Zac didn’t have his best stuff. He said he was upset because things escalated quickly, and he didn’t like what he saw out there. Lovullo acknowledged it’s a hard job. He saw people reacting, and “at a certain point I didn’t like the activity of the umpire” and went out to protect his players. He said, “I knew I was going to get ejected about 45 feet from where I was.”

Torey Lovullo audio

The win leapfrogs the D-backs back over the Braves, and up to one game of .500, with a record of 24-25. 168 comments in the thread, from people who weren’t barbecuing or whatever. Me, I was watching Brawl in Cell Block 99. Man, that was brutally intense. Then again, it is by the director of Bone Tomahawk, so I should have guessed. Comment of the thread to Mr. Lopez for this important reminder regarding ballpark etiquette.

The Diamondbacks have a chance to climb (again!) back up Mt. .500 tomorrow night. A victory would also give a winning record for the month of May, and would be the first time Arizona has been above .500 for that month since 2017. Humberto Castellanos starts for the home team, with a 6:40 pm first pitch.