AZ Snake Pit - Game #6: 7/29, Diamondbacks 4, Rangers 7An unofficial Arizona Diamondbacks community and bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47033/azsnakepit_f.png2020-07-29T20:34:49-04:00http://www.azsnakepit.com/rss/stream/211108712020-07-29T20:34:49-04:002020-07-29T20:34:49-04:00Arizona Diamondbacks 4, Texas Rangers 7: Chafin Balls
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<figcaption>Photo by Harry How/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Hang in here with me while I knock the rust off and type some words of my own this year. </p> <p id="2F3Xc6">The series finale in Arlington, Texas featured a face off of two veteran pitchers on the mound in <span>Lance Lynn</span> and <span>Madison Bumgarner</span> (feels really odd discussing him as a member of the D’backs). Lance was fourth in strikeouts in the American League last season. Both he and Madbum had the strikeout working today with the assistance of a generous strike zone from home plate umpire, Adrian Johnson. Johnson was really favoring the strike call off the plate to left handers in the right handed batters box, but was at least consistently giving the call to both pitchers. <span>Ketel Marte</span> was the first victim of said expanded strike zone being called out on a third well off the plate.</p>
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<p id="6fEeeN"><span>Bumgarner</span> was still a few ticks slower on his fastball in this start from where he has been in previous seasons, sitting around 88 MPH. I don’t bring this up to jump to conclusions or make a bigger deal out of it than it actually is, but just something to pay attention to as the season goes on. Remember when everyone collectively lost their minds about <span>Zack Greinke</span> when he came to Arizona, but he continued to age like a fine wine? We just need to wait and see.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here's Madison Bumgarner's average velocity on his four-seam fastball by game in his career.<br><br>That one dot all the way to the right and below the rest? That's his Opening Day start on July 24 -- 87.9 mph.<br><br>Through 3 IP today, he's averaging 88.0 mph. <a href="https://t.co/k5Q9tHa1bP">pic.twitter.com/k5Q9tHa1bP</a></p>— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) <a href="https://twitter.com/SlangsOnSports/status/1288581409976864769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2020</a>
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<p id="kyyovE">This start mirrored Bumgarner’s first of the season in San Diego in that he mostly sailed through the early innings before the <a href="https://www.lonestarball.com/">Rangers</a> finally got to him at the end of his outing. Madison was able to keep the Rangers hitless until a fourth inning, two out, solo home run to left field from Todd “Father” Frazier. Frazier had just barely missed a home run to the same location in his first at bat, so it is evident he was seeing the southpaw with ease today. The rest of the Rangers lineup gathered their bearings against Madison in the fifth. <span>Isiah Kiner-Falefa</span>, <span>Scott Heineman</span>, and <span>Jose Trevino</span> all singled pushing the score 2-0 in favor of Texas before Bumgarner ended the threat. </p>
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<p id="f3ORwF">The <a href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> couldn’t muster up an offensive push against <span>Lance Lynn</span> outside of a bases loaded threat in the top of the third. <span>Carson Kelly</span> drew a full count walk to begin that inning, and <span>Jon Jay</span> advanced him to third base with Arizona’s first hit of the game on a single to right field. <span>Ketel Marte</span> drew a one out walk to load the bases, but <span>Lynn</span> drew another courteous, wide, strike three call against <span>Jake Lamb</span> for the second out, and ended the scoring opportunity when <span>Eduardo Escobar</span> flew out to left field. </p>
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<p id="JYua8l">The 2-0 Texas advantage held until Arizona was able to get to the Texas bullpen. <span>Jesse Chavez</span> came on in relief of Lynn in the seventh inning. <span>Christian Walker</span> knocked the first of his two check swing infield singles on the afternoon, and was advanced to third on a slicing double from <span>David Peralta</span> down the left field line. <span>Carson Kelly</span> broke the seal for the Diamondbacks with his first hit on the season, a single to center field, scoring <span>Walker</span>. <span>Jon Jay</span> brought the tying run home on a sacrifice fly to left field. </p>
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<p id="lJsYEy">The Diamondbacks continued the scoring attack in the eighth. <span>Kole Calhoun</span> was hit by a pitch on his back foot to lead off. Tory Lovullo took the hit by pitch as an opportunity to pinch run <span>Tim Locastro</span> for <span>Calhoun</span>, and it paid off immediately. <span>Eduardo Escobar</span> hit a lining triple to right field, scoring the fastest man in the league from first base and gave Arizona their first lead of the game. Another check swing infield single from <span>Walker</span> put runners on the corners with one out. <span>Peralta</span> brought Escobar in on a sacrifice fly to left field, giving the Diamondbacks a 4-2 lead. Arizona was only six outs away from coming back to Chase Field with a .500 record, but not before <span>Jake Lamb</span> went out and got himself a Texas sized golden sombrero with his fourth strikeout of the game.</p>
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<p id="PC18W9">Six. Outs. Away. With left handers <span>Rougned Odor</span> and <span>Joey Gallo</span> due up in the bottom of the eighth, Lovullo made the obvious choice to go with <span>Andrew Chafin</span> out of the bullpen hoping to hand it off to <span>Archie Bradley</span> for the save, right? Right? Except it did not go how any of us hoped. <span>Chafin</span> got ahead of <span>Odor</span> with an 0-2 count, but then tried to get too fancy after that. Eventually, the count ran full at which time I commented to my fiance that you do not want to walk <span>Odor</span> in front of <span>Gallo</span> with only a two run lead. (She responded with a line from <em>My Cousin Vinny, </em>which, like, what the hell dude? I was totally right. This isn’t a time to play games.) Chafin of course walked <span>Odor</span> after being ahead bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of the Rangers biggest bat in the lineup, <span>Joey Gallo</span>. First home run in the history of Globe Life Field. Yeah, that guy. Two run homer. Absolutely jacked. Left field. Tie game. F#&k! But wait, there’s more! Because MLB likes to feel our pain, Chafin had the privilege of staying in for a third batter with the new rule change. He only gave up a double to Frazier for his final batter of the game. No big deal. Tie game with the go ahead run in scoring position. Round of applause.</p>
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<p id="hSHpMR"><span>Hector Rondon</span> was tasked with mopping up the mess and keeping the score tied, but did not survive a better fate. He recorded the first two outs of the inning with relative ease on a fielder’s choice and strikeout, but imploded afterwards. <span>Rondon</span> walked the bases loaded and gave up successive singles to <span>Elvis Andrus</span> and <span>Nick Solak</span> giving Texas the decisive 7-4 lead. Pain.</p>
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<p id="Zj8imr">The Diamondbacks now head back to Chase Field for the first time this season with a 2-4 record. The road only gets more difficult from here with a four game series against the <a href="https://www.truebluela.com/">Los Angeles Dodgers</a>.</p>
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<p id="Yl6Znf"><strong>However, don’t take my agony of this game as complaining. </strong>I’m just grateful to have baseball back in some form. Any day where I get the opportunity to recap is a good day. Wins are just more fun. Stay safe. Take care of yourselves and your families. Wear your masks.</p>
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<p id="vXYjXG"><strong>Twelve gallon hat: Eduardo Escobar- 1-for-4, triple, RBI, 16.2% WPA. </strong></p>
<p id="A5yWDZ"><strong>Trucker cap: </strong><span><strong>David Peralta</strong></span><strong>- 1-for-3, double, sac fly RBI, 13.6% WPA.</strong></p>
<p id="oerJI4"><strong>Old busted fedora: </strong><span><strong>Andrew Chafin</strong></span><strong>- 3 ER, HR allowed, 2B allowed, -53.4% WPA. </strong><span><strong>Hector Rondon</strong></span><strong>- 2 ER, 3 BB -22.2% WPA.</strong></p>
<p id="35PBNm"><strong>Golden sombrero: </strong><span><strong>Jake Lamb</strong></span><strong>- 4K’s, -13.3%</strong></p>
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<p id="YzcqJD">Total comments: 318</p>
<p id="Fb0lPE">Total commenters: 27</p>
<p id="GLmNTh">Commenter list: <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/520Tommy">520Tommy</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/AzDbackfanInDc">AzDbackfanInDc</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/AzRattler">AzRattler</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/ChuckJohnson56">ChuckJohnson56</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Craig's%20City%20Counsell">Craig’s City Counsell</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/DBacksEurope">DBacksEurope</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/DeadManG">DeadManG</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Docnoeld">Docnoeld</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/GuruB">GuruB</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Jack%20Sommers">Jack Sommers</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Jim%20McLennan">Jim McLennan</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Justin27">Justin27</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Michael%20McDermott">Michael McDermott</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/MrMrrbi">MrMrrbi</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Muu">Muu</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Oscar%20Goldman">Oscar Goldman</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/SenSurround">SenSurround</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Snake_Bitten">Snake_Bitten</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Sprankton">Sprankton</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/Totally%20Not%20Blind%20Squirrel%2C%20but%20still%20I%20apologize">Totally Not Blind Squirrel, but still I apologize</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/edbigghead">edbigghead</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/gzimmerm">gzimmerm</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/kilnborn">kilnborn</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/ryeandi">ryeandi</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/since_98">since_98</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/suroeste">suroeste</a>, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/yutzamin">yutzamin</a></p>
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<p id="M9cccu">In the absence of Sedona Red comments, I’m going to choose this string of commentary for CoTD as it sums up how a large chunk of us feel.</p>
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https://www.azsnakepit.com/2020/7/29/21347343/arizona-diamondbacks-4-texas-rangers-7-chafin-balls-texas-rangers-joey-galloKeegan Thompson2020-07-29T16:00:00-04:002020-07-29T16:00:00-04:00Gameday Thread, #6: 7/29 @ Rangers
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<img alt="Prince Charles &amp; Lady Diana On Wedding Day" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ztpWuwnCM-hK7GLSNmFh4kp2vi4=/0x23:3000x2023/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67128806/3126204.jpg.0.jpg" />
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">An estimated global audience of 750 million people tuned in to watch the wedding of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PrinceCharles?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PrinceCharles</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LadyDianaSpencer?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LadyDianaSpencer</a>, this date in 1981. <a href="https://t.co/25U9FngjHu">pic.twitter.com/25U9FngjHu</a></p>— Silver Age Television (@SilverAgeTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/SilverAgeTV/status/1288504848300810241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2020</a>
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<p id="bXP3Tb">I was one of them...</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2020/7/29/21347008/gameday-thread-6-7-29-rangersJim McLennan2020-07-29T15:30:00-04:002020-07-29T15:30:00-04:00Preview #6: 7/29, Diamondbacks @ Rangers
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<img alt="Arizona Diamondbacks v San Diego Padres" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6uGi1eA_HVQrwMJsOHkzbtY3mJo=/8x0:4928x3280/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67128647/1227793788.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Another day, another day game...</p> <div id="c6ESFl">
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<h3>Today's Lineups</h3>
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<th align="left">DIAMONDBACKS</th>
<th align="left">RANGERS</th>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Ketel Marte - 2B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Elvis Andrus - SS</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Kole Calhoun - RF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Nick Solak - DH</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Eduardo Escobar - 3B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Rougned Odor - 2B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Christian Walker - DH</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Joey Gallo - RF</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">David Peralta - LF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Todd Frazier - 1B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Jake Lamb - 1B</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Adolis Garcia - LF</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Carson Kelly - C</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Isiah Kiner-Falefa - 3B</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Jon Jay - CF</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Scott Heineman - CF</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Nick Ahmed - SS</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Jose Trevino - C</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">M. Bumgarner - LHP</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Lance Lynn - RHP</td>
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<p id="RFeIU4">The third day-game in four days for the Diamondbacks, if my math is right. They also played in daylight on Sunday and Monday in San Diego. It’s like there’s a shortage of electricity or something. :) I’m not sure what factors play into the decision to have a day game or not on getaway day. I took a look at the schedule, but this year’s restricted competition makes it hard to be sure. The majority of teams the Diamondbacks play this season are in the same time-zone: all the California teams, plus Seattle. That leaves only the Rockies and the two Texas teams where a change of time-zone is required. It looks like there is usually a day-game where one or other team is traveling across a time-zone afterward. </p>
<p id="3yxts2">Over their entire history, the D-backs have done a bit worse in day games. They have a .472 win percentage there, having gone 492-550. But after the sun goes down, they have a winning record, being nineteen games over even, at 1273-1254. Is this due to the D-backs pitching better or hitting better? Turns out to be a bit of both. Their ERA after dark is a tenth of a run lower, at 4.19 against 4.29. However, their OPS in night games is also 14 points higher, at .747 versus .733. Maybe it’s just the typical Arizona attitude towards any activity while the sun is up between April and September: do it grudgingly, if it absolutely MUST be done at all...</p>
<p id="QyuPuH">No Starling Marte in the starting line-up, for the first time this season. No apparent issue, just a scheduled day off, it seems. Torey Lovullo has been a bit more consistent so far. Over the first five games, two-thirds of his line-up has started every time: as well as S.Marte, so did Ahmed, Calhoun, Escobar, Ketel Marte and Peralta. Last year, over the same opening five-game span, only four men started 100% of the contests: Ahmed, K.Marte, Peralta and Adam Jones. This is perhaps to be expected: the addition of the DH spot does mean a line-up now does consist of nine batters, rather then eight, so there is some more flexibility. But it just <em>feels</em> like there’s a more standard starting nine. </p>
<p id="V6vEcq">Starting in center, replacing S.Marte is Jon Jay, whom I had forgotten was on the roster - we didn’t see him at all over the first five games. Interesting to see Peralta batting fifth, even with a right-handed starter on the mound for Texas. That’ll be his fourth different spot in the line-up over the last four games, having previously hit sixth, eighth and second going back to Sunday in San Diego. Lovullo has also been a bit more consistent in his batting orders as well. Today is the sixth straight game in which K. Marte and Ahmed have batted first and ninth respectively. The former in particular is notable. We didn’t have the same leadoff man for more than four consecutive games at any point last year. </p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2020/7/29/21346828/preview-6-7-29-diamondbacks-rangersJim McLennan