D-backs Preview #156: 9/26 vs. Dodgers

Roster move

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves:

• Recalled INF Geraldo Perdomo from Triple-A Reno.
• Placed INF Nick Ahmed on the 10-day injured list (right shoulder inflammation), retro to Sept. 23.

Before Zac Gallen threw the first pitch last night, the Dodgers’ odds of winning the division were a robust 40.3%. While still the underdogs, as they fought to catch the Giants, they still had a realistic chance. But four hours later, those odds had been cut to less than half, at 18.4%. Now, not all of that should be credited to the Diamondbacks; the Giants’ beating the Rockies in Colorado (coincidentally, by the same 7-2 score) is obviously a factor. But that was expected: Last night was only Arizona’s third victory over Los Angeles in eighteen attempts this season. With seven games left, the Dodgers now trail the Giants by two games; another loss this afternoon could be near fatal, especially if the Giants beat the Rockies again.

It won’t be easy. The Dodgers have not lost a Julio Urias appearance since July, winning the last nine in a row. He hasn’t lost a start since June 21. Since then, he is 9-0 with a 2.19 ERA and a .579 OPS against. Basically, over that time, batters facing Urias have hit like Jeff Mathis in his two seasons here (OPS = .571 with Arizona). Meanwhile, Humberto Mejia is still looking for his first win in the majors, being 0-4 with a 6.48 ERA over six starts, between here and Miami. It all seems an overwhelming mismatch. But the Diamondbacks won’t lack for motivation; it seems that teams around the league want to stick it to Los Angeles, and Arizona has nothing to lose this afternoon.

Torey Lovullo notes

Nick Ahmed to IL Things were not progressing. It is right shoulder inflammation. (Bursitis according to Steve Gilbert’s article) “He plays a very aggressive defense, it’s something that he could get by with and I just didn’t want to put him in that postion. On the other side of the ball... He was feeling some pain and irritation during the course of his swing, so at that point I felt like we needed to pivot a little bit. I was at times needing that extra player, and he understood that... The one part of this equation that I want to make sure that I mention is that he was trying to gut it out.”

Geraldo Perdomo: ”He’s made some real good progress... I think he’s made considerable improvements from an offensive standpoint. I don’t want to set the bar too high, but he has made some swing adjustments, especially from the left hand side. wshere he’s generating more force, more bat speed and we’ve seen his exit velocity climb over the last few weeks.“ Torey would not commit to how many starts he would get over the last week but it’s not going to only be one start.

Humberto Mejia needs to maintain his stuff for the entirety of his outing. Last time he fatigued around the 5th inning, 70 pitch mark.

Torey Lovullo audio [or link]