Recaps

[SI] D-backs Swept by Reds After 7-3 Loss - Former Diamondback Luke Weaver was able to pitch four scoreless innings despite giving up a slew of base runners. That was because the D-backs hitters couldn't come through with the big hit and also had two more outs on base, this time by Ketel Marte and Christian Walker, continuing a team-wide issue from earlier in the road trip. They finally broke through against Weaver with three runs in the 5th inning, thanks to a throwing error and then a two-run bomb by Corbin Carroll to tie it up at 3-3. It was Carroll's 21st homer of the year and 3rd in his last four games.

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks sink deeper into slump as Reds complete sweep - Right-hander Jose Ruiz made his 38th appearance and second career start for Arizona in a bullpen game. It was Ruiz’s first start since Sept. 26, 2019. Ruiz committed a pitch-clock violation prior to his first pitch of the game. Then, on a 3-1 count, De La Cruz launched his fifth homer of the season. Senzel’s eighth homer made it 3-0 in the second. Ruiz allowed five hits in 1 2/3 innings.

[Dbacks.com] D-backs falter with runners in scoring position in finale loss - "It's hard to talk about the frustration we're all feeling," manager Torey Lovullo said. "We all know what the record is. We know what the outcomes have been. It wasn't anything close to what we expected. We're all frustrated by that, period. "When you dissect that and look into it deeper, we're just not playing the kind of baseball we played up to those past 14, 16 games. It's getting back to the foundation: Being a good teammate, working as hard as you possibly can for the guy sitting next to you, expecting good results -- not hoping for good results -- playing the game full-throttle and believing you're going to get it done.”

Team news

[SI] Gabriel Moreno to Injured List With Left Shoulder Inflammation - The issue first arose about 10 days before the All Star break, according to manager Torey Lovullo. Moreno's playing time had been cut back and Lovullo had been getting asked a lot of questions about it. At one point this reporter asked directly if there were an injury to Moreno and was told there was not. However that clearly was not the case. Perhaps for competitive advantage reasons the team chose not to disclose the injury at that time. Lovullo had also recently said that he expected the playing time between Kelly and Moreno to be more of a 50/50 split than it had been but clearly Moreno suffered a setback.

[Fox Sports] Diamondbacks' Corbin Carroll opens up on All-Star Game experience, 'special' rookie season - "I was at my locker, next to my teammate Geraldo Perdomo, and then Luis Arráez was like two lockers down from us and he had some ice cream. And he was like, ‘Why don’t you get some ice cream?’ And Perdomo was like, ‘No, he doesn’t do that.’ And Arráez’s response was so funny to me: ‘What’s the point of working hard if you don’t enjoy yourself?’ I loved that. I think I’ll remember that one."

[Arizona Sports] The Athletic’s Keith Law names 3 D-backs in his midseason top 60 - No. 7 Jordan Lawlar has had his ups-and-downs offensively at the Double-A level, batting .259 with 13 homers and 39 RBI with Amarillo of the Texas League. However, he has stolen 27 of 30 bases, walked 36 times to boast a .355 OBP and has slugged .479 in his age 20 season. He was named to the 2023 Futures Game to start for the National League, but he went 0-2 with two strikeouts. “He hits fastballs extremely well, even those with higher velocity, while some of the flashes of trouble he showed last year with better offspeed stuff have carried over into this year.” His ranking in the offseason top 60 was No. 9.

And, elsewhere...

[USA Today] Scott Rolen, Fred McGriff get emotional during Baseball Hall of Fame induction - Rolen and McGriff delivered beautiful, impassioned Baseball Hall of Fame induction speeches Sunday in front of a crowd of about 10,000 in Cooperstown, New York, talking about the people responsible for their legendary careers – their own families. “Baseball was my career, but it is not my story,’’ Rolen said. “I dreamed of being a Major League baseball player, but I was not raised to be a Major League Baseball player. I was raised to be honest, to work hard, to be accountable for my words and actions, and to treat people with kindness and respect.

[TWSN] Elly De La Cruz is Already Overrated - While he is no doubt a star in the making, it is time to pump the breaks on the Elly hype train. The calls for De La Cruz to win NL Rookie of the Year and the cries that he should have been an All-Star need to stop. There is a case that the infielder isn’t in the top five of rookies in the at-bat range 100-250 at bat range let alone the top 10 in this class.

Talk to Me (2022)

Rating: B

Dir: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou

Star: Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird, Alexandra Jensen, Otis Dhanji

Based off the trailer, I wasn’t expecting much more than a fairly generic teens-in-peril horror, with a sculpture of a hand standing in for the traditional ouija board. To some extent, I wasn’t wrong. However, the devil is in the details. Or devilS, perhaps, and the way this is put together, with commitment and some of the gnarliest violence in a while, help it rise considerably above. The opening sets the tone, with a young man at a party stabbing his brother, and then himself, in attention grabbing fashion. We then switch to Mia (Wilde), who will be our guide on this trip to the far side.

She’s part of a group of young people, who have come into possession of an embalmed hand, that can trigger those who touch into seeing visions of the dead. However, opening that gate can also allow those on the other end through for a taste of the life they left behind. Yeah, none of this seems like a good idea. Especially the bit about putting your trust in whatever the dead say. It’s not like the spirits would say and do anything, in order to escape the limbo-like realm in which they are trapped. Oh, wait, my mistake. Of course they would...

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