:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63858885/1148694823.jpg.0.jpg)
Zack Godley starts again for the Diamondbacks, though if this outing is anything like last time, “starts” will be a candidate for /r/technicallythetruth. Because last time, he went two innings in what was apparently a pre-planned move by manager Torey Lovullo - though his decision not to share that plan with Godley seems a little strange. Lovullo wouldn’t say definitively what the plan would be. But considering that we don’t have a spot starter like Jon Duplantier or Taylor Clarke available to operate out of the bullpen after Godley, I think he will probably end up throwing more innings than the first time we tried this “opener” thing.
How many more, it’s hard to say. He last worked on May 14, throwing 36 pitches in relief, over two innings. His outings before that were 40 and 18 pitches, and he hasn’t thrown even seventy pitches in a game situation since April 22. Of course, there’s no way to know whether Godley has been kept stretched out by the team in bullpen sessions, but I’d be quite surprised if he was good for more than 70 tonight. Four innings, or twice through the order, would be about as far as I would push him, and then patch the rest of the game together, depending on the situation. T.J. McFarland, who hasn’t pitched since May 12, would seem most likely to follow Godley to the mound for Arizona.
As mentioned at the top, and in last night’s (late!) recap, the D-backs are currently on the same pace as they were after 45 games in 2018. That’s quite a surprise, but perhaps says more about the 2018 team - awesome in April, monstrous in May - than this version. With thirteen games left to play this month, Arizona’s 8-7 record has already matched the win tally from all of May last season, when the D-backs went 8-19, a 51⁄2 game lead turning into a 11⁄2 game deficit over the course of little more than four weeks. While the odds of a 13-game losing streak to surpass that record may be slim, hopefully the D-backs can prevail over the woeful Giants, and drive a stake through the heart of that potential outcome.