Preview, #61: 6/3 vs. Dodgers

Not just back on the roster, but getting dropped right back into the #3 spot in the starting line-up is David Peralta. He hasn’t played since being lifted from the game in San Diego on May 21, so it’s not quite two weeks since he last took the field. There was no formal rehab assignment, though he did appear in an extended spring training game at Salt River Fields over the weekend, so hopefully there won’t be too much rustiness to be shaken off. Over the 11 games Peralta missed, the Diamondbacks went 5-6. though that can hardly be blamed on an offense which batted .300 during that time, and scored 72 runs.

To make way for Peralta, the team optioned Stefan Crichton back to Reno, after four scoreless appearances, covering 2.2 innings. That does reduce the team back to an eight-man bullpen for now. I imagine the team is feeling a bit better about our relievers after Merill Kelly gave them a breather, becoming our first starter to record an out in the eighth inning since May 15th. He and Greinke are the only starters for us to gave done that, each managing to such starts. From what Torey Lovullo appeared to be saying, it looks like the eight-man bullpen and four-man bench will become the standard pattern for the team. Now we have only two catchers, it’s easier to handle a shorter bench.

We’ll see how much the bullpen needs to work out, given it’s a Robbie Ray start tonight. He has not reached even six innings for seven consecutive starts, his last such being back on April 21. Interestingly. the last pircher with such a streak for us was Patrick Corbin, who went 10 straight starts without getting through six innings from mid-2016 through to his demotion to the bullpen, and back to his first outing of 2017. The franchise record, however, belongs to Elmer Dessens, who went 13 such sub-six starts in 2003-04. Fun fact: Shelby Miller also reached 13 straight, between here and Texas, before losing his rotation spot earlier this year. Ok, no mention of Miller’s time in Arizona can ever really be called “fun”...