Diamondbacks 4, Giants 3: The Silence of the 'Backs - but with a happy ending

Record: 57-50. Pace: 86-76. Change on 2022: +9.

It's probably not a good sign if your recapper finds himself looking up stats like "When was the last time the Diamondbacks were held without an extra-base hit in consecutive games?" The answer is more often than you would think. It has happened 18 different times in franchise history, most recently just last year. On June 5-6 last year, Arizona were held to a total of six singles in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. However, the first of those was only a 7-inning game. The last time in regulation was May 7-8, 2021, when they had an impressive 18 hits against the Mets, but all were singles. They left 27 men on base across that pair of games.

That tally certainly was not going to be challenged tonight, as yesterday's offensive struggles carried forward, following the D-backs on the road to San Francisco. Never mind extra-bases, Arizona managed just one single through 5 2/3 innings. And that didn't even reach the outfield. With one out in the second, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. pinged a 104 mph comebacker off the shin of the Giants pitcher, and it ricocheted foul between home and first for an infield hit. The sole other base runner through five innings for Arizona was a two-out walk in the fifth to Emmanuel Rivera.

On the mound, Ryne Nelson was not pitching badly, to be honest, despite a weird lack of strikeouts. He faced 25 batters before getting former D-back Isan Diaz on a borderline strike three, for the second out in the seventh. [Another stat I looked up that I can't use: D-backs' starters who went more than six innings without a K. Only one since 2009, Taijuan Walker in June 2017.] Getting the benefit there did seem only fair. For Nelson should have had a K, and been out of the inning, when facing Diaz in the second, but was denied by home-plate umpire Dan Iassogna. He eventually escaped with the bases loaded there, but was unable to avoid damage in the third.

Another former Diamondback, Wilmer Flores, had earlier seen Alek Thomas rob him of extra bases with a nice catch at the wall (above). But Corbin Carroll would have needed to have been playing ten rows into the bleachers to have had a play, after Nelson missed his spot with a 93 mph fastball, and Flores homered. The Giants extended their lead to 2-0 in the fourth, courtesy of that dreaded lead-off walk. A double and a sacrifice fly later, that free baserunner scored, though Nelson stranded the other runner in scoring position. That was all Ryne allowed, tossing 6.2 innings of two-run ball, on five hits and three walks, with just that one strikeout. It won't do his FIP any good, but we'll take it, any day.

Arizona clawed their way backwith a two-run sixth, courtesy of some two-out magic. A wild pitch advanced Ketel Marte to second, and Corbin Carroll singled him home, to put the D-backs on the board. Carroll then stole second, and tied the game up when Gurriel finally ended the XBH streak with a double down the left-field line, making the score 2-2. Neither team was then able to score in regulation. The other Nelson, Kyle, took over from Ryne, and retired all four he faced, to get us to the ninth. That was quite the contrast. San Francisco sent out All-Star closer Camilo Doval, who struck out Christian Walker, Gurriel and Jake McCarthy in order. Arizona went with Miguel Castro. Not an All-Star.

However, he also retired the opposing hitters, 1-2-3. That took us into extra innings, where - as OF COURSE you already read in the GDT intro... (glare) - the Giants had been great, and the D-backs, not so much. In the tenth, Rivera brought home the Manfred Man with a single in the top of the tenth, but the Giants tied things back up on a ground-out, followed by a wild pitch from Kevin Ginkel. He also walked a pair, and gave up another long fly ball which Thomas had to track down. But Kevin struck out Flores to send us into the eleventh, with the score now tied at three. Marte gave Arizona a quick lead with an RBI double (above), and was unlucky not to be on third, the ball bouncing into the stands.

Carroll bunted Marte 90 feet on, but that decision backfired. The Giants walked Walker, and Gurriell hit into his team leading 14th double-play of the season, to keep the score at 4-3 for Arizona. Scott McGough came in, and got a big first strikeout before Carson Kelly let another pitch get past him, advancing the tying run to third, still with one out. But Scott had his splitter working well, and got another strikeout before an easy ground-ball kept the Giants off the board and closed out the victory for the Diamondbacks, They had managed only five hits in 35 at-bats, yet prevailed, thanks to pitching which held San Francisco to two earned runs over 11 innings, including 4.2 from the bullpen.

A couple of credible contenders from Jack for comment of the night, but we’ll go with this one, as the bullpen picked its way through the later inning of this tied game:

It was a very big win, with the Marlins and Brewers both losing. It takes the D-backs back into a three-way tie with those two teams for the final wild-card spot. The Phillies are half a game ahead, and the Giants half a game further. With San Francisco throwing a bullpen game, and being extended to 11 innings tonight, it’s going to leave them taxed for tomorrow, when Arizona sends up Zac Gallen. Even though it’s a road start, I’m hopeful we can prevail there as well. Certainly, it’s a lot harder for the D-backs to lose this four-game series, having got the first one in the bag. It’s another 6:45 pm first pitch, so see you for that! We’ll also see what the trade deadline has to offer...