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Another day, another late-inning surge by the Diamondbacks. Let’s look at the runs they have scored and allowed in each inning this year.
- 1st: 7-13
- 2nd: 6-12
- 3rd: 9-12
- 4th: 18-8
- 5th: 8-9
- 6th: 20-21
- 7th: 29-14
- 8th: 10-7
- 9th: 14-6
- 10th+: 2-0
Yeah, you might as well sleep on the Diamondbacks until that seventh inning rolls around, for the surge is real. They’ve outscored their opponents in that frame by 15 runs and more than a two-to-one margin. Over every other inning combined, they’ve been outscored by six runs. Remarkably, they have a 5-6 record when TRAILING at the end of the sixth inning: the rest of the NL teams are a combined 17-113 in that situation. Is is sustainable? Quite possibly not. It’s still a lot of fun to watch, especially games like yesterday’s - though the shine on that one was heavily diminished by watching an opposing pitcher crumple to the ground in tears. Good (or, at least, as good as could be hoped) news on that front though:
Considering how awful it looked, the preliminary exam on Pirates reliever Nick Burdi is promising: Nothing is fully torn or broken, source tells ESPN. MRI did reveal strained biceps tendon and flexor mass, which will sideline him indefinitely, but diagnosis would mean no surgery.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 23, 2019
Meanwhile, the D-backs turn to Luke Weaver who, by fielding independent ERA, has been the best of our current starters. Well, it’s actually true by regular ERA as well. But while the gap between him and Robbie Ray in that metric is a mere hair (3.92 to 3.95), Weaver has outperformed his ERA by more than a run, with a FIP of 2.91. That’s largely the result of an excellent K:BB ratio of 24:5 in 20.2 innings. Ray and Zack Greinke both have more K’s than Weaver, but their walks and home-runs given up respectively, impact their FIP figures. It’s weird the back of the D-backs rotation, in Weaver and Merrill Kelly, has been more reliable than the front. Not better necessarily, just more consistent.