Arizona Diamondbacks 8, San Diego Padres 1: Winds of Change

When Jim informed me of the doubleheader last night with Hurricane Hilary barreling down on Southern California, I was hoping to recap a Merrill Kelly vs. Yu Darvish showdown. Unexpected for me Torey Lovullo decided to throw Kelly in for the first game of the day, so my feelings coming into this contest were a little less optimistic. Although he is in the middle of what could be considered a down year for him, he has historically been a tough opponent for the Diamondbacks. Arizona meanwhile went with a bullpen game for the night cap, and the four pitchers they used tonight did an incredible job of suppressing San Diego’s offense.

Scott “The Crime Dog” McGough took mound first for Arizona before handing over the baton to rookie Bryce Jarvis for the middle innings. The Diamondbacks broke the scoring seal in the second inning bringing in a pair of runs on an errant throw. Christian Walker began that frame with a leadoff single. Alek Thomas, who had three hits in the first game of the day, laced a one out double to centerfield with Walker stopping at third. Gabriel Moreno followed with a groundout to shortstop that allowed Walker to score. Thomas initially held at second base, but then tried to advance to third. Jake Cronenworth had him dead to rights but spiked his throw into the dirt. Manny Machado probably could have scooped it, but took his eye off the ball preparing to apply the tag as the ball skipped past him allowing Thomas to score.

Both teams traded a run each in the fifth inning. Corbin Carroll lead off the fifth with a single to cetnerfield and scored on a two out single from Christian Walker. San Diego’s first and only run of the game came on a leadoff home run from Xander Bogaerts against Bryce Jarvis off the Western Metal Supply Company building down the left field line. Jarvis showing true poise was unfazed by that blast and only allowed one more baserunner from that point forward.

Arizona countered with five unanswered runs over the following sixth and seventh innings en route to a series victory. They loaded the bases in each of those innings and where they failed to truly capitalize on that opportunity in the sixth they made it hurt in the seventh. Corbin Carroll singled home Alek Thomas in the sixth before Ketel Marte hit into an inning ending double play to cut that rally short. Picking up right where they left off Arizona once again found themselves in a bases loaded situation in the seventh and this time they came through in a big way. Tommy Pham began the inning with a double and was followed by a pair of walks from Walker and Thomas. Gabriel Moreno worked a seven pitch at bat before connecting on a hanging changeup inside for a grand slam.

Peter Strzelecki, the extra man on the roster for today’s doubleheader, and Justin Martinez teamed up to go scoreless the rest of the way securing an 8-1 series finale victory for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

FanGraphs

Not the most rec’d. Heck, didn’t even have a rec before me, but definitely worth the laugh. Don’t look now, but the Diamondbacks are now winners of seven out of their last nine and only a half game out of the wild card race. Grab your popcorn folks. It’s gonna be a shovel.