Diamondbacks 6, Phillies 0: Ready for Takeoff

Record: 64-52. Pace: 89-73. Change on 2017: -1

When preparing to leave for a nine game road trip spanning three cities, it’s a good idea to have your ace pilot behind the controls for a matinee game. Paging Patrick “Captain Sully” Corbin.

The left hander was absolutely stellar again this afternoon, continuing a career season before his first crack at free agency. Patrick Corbin got his most “challenging” inning out of the way in the first needing 19 pitches to end the frame. Cesar Hernandez opened up the game with a leadoff single to right field. Entering the contest, Corbin needed only five strikeouts to post a new career high for a single season, but he would well surpass that today. His tally began against the next two batters in the top of the first, Rhys Hoskins and Nick Williams, respectively. Hernandez had attempted to swipe second base on the Williams strikeout, but Avila made a strong throw to second base, ending the inning on a double play the hard way.

From that point forward, Corbin reached cruising altitude for the entirety of the rubber match. After the Hernandez single, he retired 20 of the next 23 batters faced scattering a measly four hits total over 7 & ¹⁄₃ innings. Hernandez accounted for two of those four hits, and was erased on a double play each time. Patrick did not walk a single batter in the game and recorded nine total strikeouts, six swinging and three looking. Perhaps most encouraging was that his fastball velocity approached 93 mph again at various points throughout the game, so it would be nice to see him continue that throughout the stretch run. Corbin is now 3-0 over his last four starts, and has allowed eight earned runs in 26 & ¹⁄₃ innings pitched in those games having recorded at least eight strikeouts in each.

But what’s a good pilot without an equally as talented co-pilot? Or a white hot train conductor for that matter. David Peralta might have single handily locked up National League Player of the Week for his performance in this series. The Freight Train began this series on Monday night with an 0-fer in his first three at bats, but we all know how that ended. After putting the team on his shoulders and winning that game, he went 4-for-5 in the finale today driving in two runs. David’s final mark for the series was 10-for-16, two home runs, triple, double, and four runs batted in.

David plated the first two runs for the D’backs in the bottom of the third with his fifth triple of the season. That moment was preceded by a Jon Jay double to left field, Rhys Hoskins whiffed on the play allowing Jay to advance to third, and Paul Goldschmidt was drilled in the back by Phillies’ starter Vince Velasquez to put runners on the corners with no outs.

Eduardo Escobar had a solid game himself, getting his day started by bringing in Peralta with a sacrifice fly. Velasquez was run from the game after completing only four innings. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Philadelphia reliever Adam Morgan retired both Jay and Goldy without issue. However, Peralta and A.J. Pollock knocked back to back singles forcing Phillies’ manager Gabe Kapler to turn to Enyel De Los Santos to face Escobar. All he did was hit his Major League leading 42nd double driving the score 6-0 in favor of Arizona. How’s that for a sneaky deadline acquisition? Escobar’s style of play at the plate might not be as sexy as that of J.D. Martinez, but he is a substantial upgrade over an injured Jake Lamb.

Because of Corbin’s longevity in today’s outing, Torey Lovullo was provided the luxury of resting most of his bullpen arms. Brad Ziegler and Matt Andriese teamed up to toss 1 & ²⁄₃ scoreless. The victory was an excellent way to end an otherwise so-so homestand where Arizona went 5-4. Arizona now begins a nine game road trip which will take the team through Cincinnati, Arlington, and San Diego, respectively. It’s the perfect opportunity for the Diamondbacks to fatten up against struggling competition before a challenging end of the season schedule.

Fangraphs

Three Stars: Patrick Corbin +32.9% WPA, 7.1 IP, 9 K, 0 BB, 4 H, 0 ER

Two Stars: David Peralta +15.7% WPA, 4-for-5, 2 RBI, 2 runs, triple

One Star: A.J. Pollock -6.2%, 1-for-4, 1 K, 1 run

Only 329 comments from 26 participants, but nobody is to blame. A handful of us were at the game, myself included, and another chunk slaving away to pay for a roof over the head!

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