Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #84: 7/1 @ Angels

June proved to be another good month for the Diamondbacks, as they went 16-11 in the month: their third winning month of the season so far, after a 16-13 March/April and a 17-10 May. They moved into a tie for first place after their win over the Rockies on the first day of the month, and have been there or better ever day of June, closing it with a two-game lead over the Dodgers. You have to go back to April 2018 to find the last calendar month about which you could say the same thing for the D-backs. They only had one winning streak of more than two in the month, taking six games in a row from June 6-12. However, they still haven’t lost more than three consecutive games in 2023.

They outscored the opposition by fifteen runs, 144-129, and the average of 5.33 runs per game is a season high. The offense posted a line of .265/.340/.442 for June, which is a .782 OPS, also the best of 2023. Of players on the roster for the whole month, the best OPS belongs to... Evan Longoria, who hit .342 with four home-runs for an OPS of 1.159. Ketel Marte and Christian Walker were also both very productive, coming in at 1.040 and 1.026 respectively. At the other end, it was an ugly month for both of our main catchers, with Gabriel Moreno (.480) just managing to edge out Carson Kelly (.476), with the late, (not very) lamented Pavin Smith in between them at .477.

On the pitching front, the team ERA was 4.52: that’s worse than May (3.88), but better than Mar/Apr (4.75). The increase was mostly a result of the rotation, which hit a season high of 4.96, while the bullpen’s ERA was 3.80. Excluding Brandon Pfaadt’s single, unfortunate outing, Zach Davies was the worst starter, posting a 6.91 ERA, with Zac Gallen (3.69) being the best. On the relief side, Scott McGough was the classic “one bad outing” guy, but still had a 2.19 ERA for June despite getting Ray’d. I also want to praise Kevin Ginkel, who gave the team seven innings of shutout ball, allowing just one hit and a walk, while facing the minimum 21 batters in the month.

I’ll get the confidence poll up on Monday’s off-day: am curious to see how that goes, after another month. And, now... into July we go!