Diamondbacks Game Preview #75: 6/28 vs. Padres

This one is a rematch of the contest last Tuesday, and as far as the starters went, it ended in a virtual tie. Both Zac Gallen and Sean Manaea, allowed four hits and three walks, with two runs allowed over their six innings of work. However, Gallen was clearly more dominant, striking out eleven compared to Manaea’s six, and one of the runs Zac allowed was also unearned. Neither pitcher featured on the final decision, as the game was not eventually decided until the bottom of the 11th inning, when the Manfred Man scored for the Padres off Ian Kennedy. The defeat evened the D-backs’ record in one-run games at 11-11, and their last such victory was back on June 9.

It has been a rough month. The only series they’ve won in seven attempts (excluding the Braves’ one, since it was in the bag before May ended) was when they took two of three from the Twins here at Chase. They split a four-game set on the road in Cincinnati, and have lost the other five. Even sweeping the Padres tonight and tomorrow afternoon, would give the D-backs no better than a .400 mark for the month, since they are currently 8-15 with two left to play. However, at the risk of stating the obvious, it’s still a damn site better than Arizona were in June last year, when they were a horrendous 3-24. No NL team has a worse calendar month in recorded history (the 2012 Astros had the same record that July).

That said, the Padres have had our number this year, winning six of seven contests against the D-backs, outscoring us by a margin of more than two to one (37-18). It has mostly been on the offense: the pitching staff have done their part, posting a 4.04 ERA against San Diego so far. However, they’ve got little help from the defense, with nine unearned runs gifted to the Padres; no other team faced this year has received more than four. Add in the Arizona is currently hitting a feeble .144 against San Diego, the lowest against anyone by 15 points, and you can see the problem. Oddly, the team has hit seven HR (though most have come when down by 6+ runs), which are responsible for 12 of the 18 runs.