AZ Snake Pit - Game #7: Diamondbacks vs. PiratesAn unofficial Arizona Diamondbacks community and bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47033/azsnakepit_f.png2013-04-09T01:11:43-04:00http://www.azsnakepit.com/rss/stream/39670552013-04-09T01:11:43-04:002013-04-09T01:11:43-04:00D-backs 3, Pirates 5: Cahill Pops Arizona's Bubble
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<figcaption>USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Cahill's second outing was similar to his first, interspersing streaks of dominance with spells where he couldn't seem to find the strikezone. He gave the Pirates a three-run start early on, and though the D-backs fought back to tie it, their last hit came with no outs in the fourth. </p> <h4>Record: 5-2. Pace: 116-46. Change on 2012: 0.</h4>
<p><span>Trevor Cahill</span> started, though I use that verb in its loosest sense, because he was awful in the first inning. He was missing his spots, leaving his sinkerball up in the zone, when it was in the zone at all. Admittedly, he was squeezed by home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman - Trevor should have been out of the inning with a called strike three on <span>Russell Martin</span> and only one run allowed. Both he and tonight's catcher <span>Wil Nieves</span> were on their way back to the dugout before Dreckman called it high. However, the bottom line is three hits, two walks and Pittsburgh had matched their season high for runs in a <i>game</i>, before Cahill was out of the first inning.</p>
<p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a>, however, clawed their way back in. <span>Paul Goldschmidt</span> led off the second with a double, and came home on Wil Nieves' first hit of 2013. The third proved even more productive. <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.crawfishboxes.com/">Astros</a>' starter <span>Wandy Rodriguez</span> was forced out of the game with what seemed to be a thigh strain of some kind, just after <span>Gerardo Parra</span> reached on an error with one out. <span>Martin Prado</span> singled, <span>Aaron Hill</span> walked and Goldschmidt just missed his first grand-slam, flying out to the warning track in left for a sacrifice fly. <span>Alfredo Marte</span> followed up with his first hit in the major-leagues, driving in Prado and tying the game up. Hit the reset button, folks.</p>
<p>I was feeling pretty confident at that point. The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/">Pirates</a> starter had left the game, the replacement looked hittable, and Trevor Cahill settled down, facing the minimum from the second through the fourth innings. Things looked particularly promising after back-to-back hits by Nieves and <span>Cliff Pennington</span> led off the bottom of the fourth. However, Cahill bunted the ball too firmly back to the pitcher, and the lead runner was nailed at third. We failed to score, and a one out triple by Pittsburgh in the fifth, came home on a sac fly, giving them back the lead. It was Cahill's last frame: he ended with four hits, three walks, a hit batter, though another solid K-rate, K's in five innings.</p>
<p>Hopes of cashing in quickly against the soft underbelly of the Pittsburgh bullpen proved futile, as <span>Justin Wilson</span> shut the Diamondbacks down very effectively, with three innings of no-hit ball. The only baserunner we managed was Gerardo Parra, who got himself hit by a pitch, only to be erased immediately when Martin Prado hit into a double-play [there are times when less contact is better than more...] Prado still hasn't walked this season: however, he has a heck of a long way to go before he reaches the D-backs record for walkless games to start a season. That would be <span>Rusty Ryal's</span> <u>67</u> in the 2010 campaign.</p>
<p>The final two innings were equally uneventful for the Arizona batters, as they were retired in order both the eighth and ninth times up, not even getting the tying run to the plate to provide some hope of late heroics. It was a seriously damp fizzler, with the team being no-hit over the final 18 outs by a selection of Pittsburgh relievers. They didn't exactly make the visitors work hard, with the final five innings requiring the Pirates bullpen to throw a mere 60 pitches on the night. On our side, we got scoreless innings from <span>Matt Reynolds</span> and <span>Brad Ziegler</span>; <span>Josh Collmenter</span> allowed his habitual run per appearance, a laser solo home-run to right in the eighth.</p>
<p>Tonight was the first game of the $5.32 offer, where that amount gets you an upper-level ticket, for any of the three games against the Pirates. It would seem generally to be a good deal, but tonight's performance from Arizona was so flat and generally uninteresting, that even such a small sum still seems like an overpay.</p>
<p align="center"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2013-04-08&team=Diamondbacks&dh=0&season=2013"><img alt="20130408_pirates_diamondbacks_0_2013040905419_live_medium" class="photo" src="http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1545191/20130408_Pirates_Diamondbacks_0_2013040905419_live_medium.png"></a><br>[<i>Click to enlarge, at fangraphs.com</i>]<br><b><i>The Curse of the Black Pearl : Wil Nieves, +9.5%</i><br><i>At World's End: <span>A.J. Pollock</span> and Trevor Cahill, -17.0%</i><br></b><i>On Stranger Tides: Prado, -14.8%</i></p>
<p align="left">A brisk enough Gameday Thread. TolkienBard took top spot, just cracking three figures. imstillhungry95 and Rockkstarr12 weren't far behind. Also present tonight: AzDbackfanInDc, BobRob12, Britback, Bryan J. Boltik, Bryn21, Circa4life, Clefo, Dallas D'Back Fan, Electromikey, GuruB, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, Marc Fournier, TinySarabia, Wimb, Zavada's Moustache, asteroid, azshadowwalker, coldblueAZ, dbacks79, hotclaws, kishi, onedotfive, prwhitaker1, rd33, shoewizard, since98, since_98, snakecharmer, soco and txzona. Comment of the night goes to asteroid - well, technically, Mr. Asteroid - for this vitamin-filled summary of the evening's proceedings.</p>
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<h2 class="title collapse_toggle" id="comment_title_155071933"><i><a id="comment_155071933">Our conversation </a></i></h2>
<p><i><b> </b></i></p>
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<p><i><b>Me: They are lacking crispness tonight.</b></i></p>
<p><i><b>Mr asteroid: If they were lettuce, I would throw it away.</b></i></p>
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<p><i><b> by <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/asteroid" class="poster">asteroid</a> on <a href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/4/8/4203032/gameday-thread-7-4-8-vs-pirates#155071933" class="date">Apr 8, 2013 | 8:35 PM</a> <a href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/4/8/4203032/gameday-thread-7-4-8-vs-pirates#comment_tease" class="reply_link" title="reply to this comment" data-comment-id="155071933" id="comment_reply_155071933">reply</a> <span class="cactions mod "> <a id="rec_link_155071933" class="recommend rec-link user_recommended" href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/4/8/4203032/gameday-thread-7-4-8-vs-pirates#">rec <span class="rec-count" id="comment_rec-count_155071933"> (4) </span> </a> <a href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/4/8/4203032/gameday-thread-7-4-8-vs-pirates#" id="actions_link" class="actions_toggle">actions</a></span></b></i></p>
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<p align="left">We will reconvene tomorrow night, same bat-time, same bat-channel [except, I think it's on FSAZ+, so scratch the last!], to watch <span>Brandon McCarthy</span> make his second start, going up against the Pirates' James McDonald.</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/4/9/4203410/diamondbacks-pirates-trevor-cahillJim McLennan2013-04-09T00:47:39-04:002013-04-09T00:47:39-04:00Diamondbacks 3, Pirates 5
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<p>A bad first inning by Cahill, and the disappearance of the Diamondbacks offense over the final five innings were the key factors as the Arizona winning streak ended at four games. </p> <p><span>Trevor Cahill</span> simply looked off in the first, not helped by a strike-zone apparently the size of a field-mouse, and with about as much of a fixed location. Still, he didn't help himself by throwing more balls than strikes, and three runs came across the plate before the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> even had their first chance. He eventually went five innings, allowing four runs on four hits and three walks, with seven strikeouts, the same as in his first start. However, Cahill's ERA after two outings isn't far short of six.</p>
<p>The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.bucsdugout.com/">Pirates</a>' starter, <span>Wandy Rodriguez</span>, had to leave in the middle of the third inning with hamstring tightness, and the Diamondbacks took advantage to tie things up. <span>Paul Goldschmidt</span> almost delivered a grand-slam, but had to settle for a sacrifice fly, and <span>Alfredo Marte</span> collected his first hit and RBI as a major-leaguer. But, having done the difficult work and locked the score back up at three apiece after three, the Diamondbacks' bat went cold, managing no hits after the first out in the fourth inning. Backup catcher <span>Wil Nieves</span> made the most of his rare start, with a pair of hits.</p>
<p>The teams meet against tomorrow night at Chase. <span>Brandon McCarthy</span> will start for the Diamondbacks. Full recap shouldn't take too long to follow...</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/4/9/4203884/diamondbacks-pirates-scoreJim McLennan2013-04-08T20:00:06-04:002013-04-08T20:00:06-04:00Preview: Cahill seeks to repel Pirates
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<figcaption>Alfredo Marte: will his fifth ML game be the charm? | Mike McGinnis</figcaption>
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<p>After a thoroughly successful first road-trip of the season, sweeping the Brewers in Milwaukee, it's back to Chase to face Pittsburgh, who have averaged 1.3 runs per game this season. Will that continue tonight, as they face Arizona?</p> <p>
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<br>Wandy Rodriguez<br>LHP, 1-0, 0.00</h4>
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<br>Trevor Cahill<br>RHP, 0-1, 4.76<br>
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<h4>D-backs line-up:</h4>
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<li> <span>Gerardo Parra</span>, RF <br>
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<li> <span>Martin Prado</span>, 3B <br>
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<li> <span>Aaron Hill</span>, 2B <br>
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<li> <span>Paul Goldschmidt</span>, 1B <br>
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<li> <span>Alfredo Marte</span>, LF <br>
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<li> <span>A.J. Pollock</span>, CF <br>
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<li> <span>Wil Nieves</span>, C <br>
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<li> <span>Cliff Pennington</span>, SS <br>
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<li>Trevor Cahill, P</li>
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<p>Bit of a B-look to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.azsnakepit.com/">Diamondbacks</a> offense, even though the only changes are the replacement of <span>Miguel Montero</span> and <span>Jason Kubel</span>, with Nieves and Marte respectively. The former is likely a result of Montero having caught every inning of every game so far, and with the two extra-inning contests, that's the equivalent of seven in a row, at 63 innings pitched. As a yardstick, <span>Yadier Molina</span> is the only other NL catcher with more than 47 innings of work after the first week. Kubel gets the day off with a left-hander on the mound, so we'll see if Marte can get his first hit in the major-leagues tonight, in front of a home crowd.</p>
<p>Rodriguez got the decision in the Pirates only victory of the season to date, pitching 6.2 shutout innings as they blanked the Cubs, 3-0. We've done pretty well historically against him, tagging him with an L four out of the last five times he has pitched against the D-backs. However, hard to say how much of that is down to the current line-up, as the only players with 10 PAs are Martin Prado and Wil Nieves. Still, the collective line of .294/.368/.451 is pretty good. Random aside: I'd quite like Prado to get his on-base percentage (.273) above his batting average (.281). He now has 33 PAs without a walk, the most in the majors. So far, 91% of his PAs have ended with a ball in play.</p>
<p>Cahill last saw the Pirates in 2010, and went 7.2 scoreless innings, holding them to two hits and three walks, with ten strikeouts: the same again this evening would be very welcome. But, again, there's very little in the way of past form to go on, with Travis Snyder (1-for-8) the only Pittsburgh hitter to have seen Trevor on even a handful of occasions. Still, can't object to a collective line of 4-for-28 with one extra-base hit. Cahill fanned seven Cardinals in less than six innings last time, and was somewhat unlucky to lose, a Holliday 5-iron and Heath Bell not exactly helping his cause.</p>
<p>Shame that we're not throwing Kennedy at Pittsburgh this series, as I was looking forward to a victory recap using the title "Pirates of the Can't-hit-Ian". But, as long as I get a victory recap - ideally in regulation, please - that'll do for me.</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2013/4/8/4202600/diamondbacks-pirates-previewJim McLennan