Diamondbacks 9, Braves 6: Walker and the Offense save Ray and Marte

Both Robbie Ray and Max Fried of the Braves got off to good starts this evening. 1-2-3 innings in the first for each of them got things going quickly. Arizona got a couple of runners in the second inning, but nothing came of them. Same went for a couple of walks for Ronald Acuna and Dansby Swanson in the bottom of the inning. In the third, the Diamondbacks went down in order, and Ray worked around a one out single from Inciarte.

The Dbacks’ offense woke up a bit in the top of the fourth inning. Eduardo Escobar lead off with a single but was erased by a Peralta double play, so the Dbacks had to start over. Walker and Flores singled. Walker was then brought home thanks to a Nick Ahmed single, which also sent Flores to third. Flores then came home on a Carson Kelly double. There were runners on second and third with two out after that, but Ray wasn’t able to help his own cause and struck out. 2-0 Diamondbacks

Ray struggled a bit in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs, he gave up a home run to Ronald Acuna, cutting the lead in half. Johan Carmago hit a double and Swanson walked again before Ray was able to get out of the inning with a Tyler Flowers strikeout. 2-1 Dbacks

It really went down hill for Ray in the fifth, however. Fried and Ozzie Albies both singled with one out. Ray got Donaldson to strike out, and it looked like there was a chance he might get out of it. He didn’t. Freddie Freeman doubled to bring home Fried, tying the game. They walked Acuna intentionally to get to Johan Camargo. Carmago doubled, scoring Albies, Freeman, and Acuna. Swanson struck out, mercifully ending the inning. 5-2 Braves

Ray had one more inning in him, and sat the Braves down in order in the bottom of the sixth. That was the end of the road for him, putting the cap on a pretty rough evening. 6 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, and 4 Ks.

He would not end up with the loss, however, as the Diamondbacks rallied in the seventh. Chad Sobotka replaced Fried as the Braves pitcher. He promptly hit Tim Locastro, pinch hitting for Ray, and Adam Jones to start the inning. A walk to Marte loaded the bases and ended the night for Sobotka. Jesse Biddle replaced him and didn’t do much better. A single to Escobar scored two, and a walk to Peralta kept it moving. Biddle was replaced by Luke Jackson, and the hits kept coming. Walker singled, bringing home one and kept the bases loaded. Flores grounded out for the first out, but it also allowed another run to score and moved the runners to second and third. Jackson gave Ahmed an intentional walk to load the bases for a third time, still with one out. 6-5 Diamondbacks

That was all they would get, which was slightly disappointing. Carson Kelly and Locastro struck out to end the inning. Not getting more immediately came back to bite them. Yoan Lopez came in for the bottom of the seventh and right away gave up a home run to Albies to tie it back up. Lopez would get a strike out of Donadlson, before being pulled to let Chafin and Hirano get the last two outs.

The two teams stayed tied into the ninth. Frustrations were running high in the GDT after Marte ran into the final out of the top of the eighth at third base. Christian Walker quickly put those doubts to bed with a lead off home run giving back the lead to the Dbacks. Two outs later, Carson Kelly doubled and John Ryan Murphy walked, to put two on for Jones. He doubled, extending the lead to three. Holland took the mound in the bottom of the ninth and closed it out. 9-6 Dbacks

Jon Snow: Christian Walker, 47.5%

Tyrion Lannister: Eduardo Escobar, 23.8%

The Night King: Robbie Ray, 34%

688 comments in the GDT with DC making 284 of them. All present were:

AzDbackfanInDc, DeadManG, Fangdango, GuruB, Hannibal4467, Imstillhungry95, Jack Sommers, Jim McLennan, Makakilo, Michael McDermott, MikeMono, MrMrrbi, Rockkstarr12, Schilling2001, ShirtOffYourBack, Smurf1000, Sprankton, Wesley Baier, chronicles_of_the_desert, edbigghead, gamepass, onedotfive, suroeste

COTN goes to Jack, for this comment after Marte ran into the final out of the eighth at third base

Arizona now gets two chances to take the series, the first of which is tomorrow at 4:20. Zack Godley and Kevin Gausman are the starts. See you there!