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Preview, #50: 5/22 @ Padres

Can the D-backs avoid the sweep in Petco?

Arizona Diamondbacks v San Diego Padres Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images

Today's Lineups

DIAMONDBACKS PADRES
Ildemaro Vargas - 2B Greg Garcia - 2B
Ketel Marte - CF Franmil Reyes - RF
Eduardo Escobar - 3B Manny Machado - SS
Adam Jones - RF Eric Hosmer - 1B
Christian Walker - 1B Wil Myers - LF
Alex Avila - C Ty France - 3B
Nick Ahmed - SS Manuel Margot - CF
Blake Swihart - LF Austin Hedges - C
Merrill Kelly - RHP Eric Lauer - LHP

Mount .500 suddenly looms in the team’s rear-view mirror, after four consecutive losses have dropped the Diamondbacks’ record to 25-24. It doesn’t help that the team has lost the last three by one run. I was surprised to see how often such a streak has actually happened in team history: it’s the fourteenth time the Diamondbacks have lost three games or more in a row by one run. [The record, should you care is five in a row, in May 2013] What is rather... annoying is it’s the second time this season, and the last time it happened, all three losses were also against the Padres. Arizona are 9-12 this year in one-run games overall, but are 0-5 in them versus San Diego, having lost as follows:

  • April 11: L 6-7
  • April 12: L 1-2
  • April 13: L 4-5
  • May 20: L 1-2
  • May 21: L 2-3

We are 3-6 against the Padres, despite having outscored them 41-35, proving that when you score can be more important than how often you score. Indeed, against the other four teams in the NL West, the Diamondbacks have gone a collective 2-7 in one-run games, compared to 7-5 outside the division. That’s basically the reason why Arizona are 7-12 this year vs. the West, despite a run differential that is very close to even in those games, at just -4 (103 scored, 107 conceded). And that includes the opening series disaster in Los Angeles, where the D-backs were outscored by twenty runs.