AZ Snake Pit - Game #51: 6/2, Arizona Diamondbacks 7, Atlanta Braves 6An unofficial Arizona Diamondbacks community and bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47033/azsnakepit_f.png2015-06-03T03:50:11-04:00http://www.azsnakepit.com/rss/stream/84803502015-06-03T03:50:11-04:002015-06-03T03:50:11-04:00Dbacks 7, Braves 6: Roller Coaster Game
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<figcaption>Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Tonight marked a showdown between a pitcher that has been struggling to reach his past form, Josh Collmenter, against a pitcher who is easily the best on his team right now, Shelby Miller. In the end, it wasn't decided by either of them.</p> <p>The top of the first started out well enough with Jace Peterson putting up a quick, one pitch out by hitting a bunt ground out to Paul Goldschmidt. Andrelton Simmons followed that up with a strike out to give Josh Collmenter two easy outs to work with. Then, the Braves started making him work a bit early on. Freddy Freeman hit a singleon the tenth pitch of his at bat, and then stole second during Nick Markakis' at bat. Markakis saw seven pitches, and then brought Freeman home with a double to put the Braves up 1-0 in the first.</p>
<p>The Dbacks went quietly in the second, with their only baserunner being thanks to Goldschmidt drawing a walk. The Braves were just as quiet in the top of the second, their only baserunner coming thanks to a bloop, two out single that Collmenter quickly stranded.</p>
<p>The bottom of the second wasn't nearly was quick, however. Tomas started it off by flying out to center for the first out, but Jordan Pacheco singled, and Owings got on base thanks to a walk. Nick Ahmed hit into a fielder's choice, Owings out at second, Pacheco to third. That brought up Collmenter with two outs. He drew a walk to load the bases with two outs, to bring up Ender Inciarte. On the first pitche he saw, he hit a hard single to right field, scoring Pacheco and Ahmed and sending Collmenter to third. They weren't done yet, though. A. J. Pollock loaded the bases again with a single, bringing up Paul Goldschmidt. Shelby Miller walked him, sending a run home and keeping the bases loaded. Now, honestly, it was probably a pitcher who had been struggling with his control issuing another walk, but it looked to my biased eyes like he was pitching around him, so that's what I'm going to believe :-) 3-1 Dbacks. Trumbo came to the plate with the bases still loaded, but two outs. He ended up hitting a ball about as far as he could to straightaway center field without actually hitting it out to end the inning.</p>
<p>The top of the third started off with a somewhat scary moment. Jace Peterson hit a foul ball to left field and Ender Inciarte. He made a great, diving, headfirst catch that sent him sliding towards the wall. The security guard that was standing there didn't get out of the way fast enough, and Inciarte ended up plowing straight into the guard's calf. He completed the catch, but stayed seated on the warning track for a few minutes with the trainers and a few of his teammates before they elected to keep him in the game. He then ended the inning two batters later with another great catch, this time without bodily harm.</p>
<p>The Dbacks were mostly quiet in the third through fifth innings, though they did add a run in the fourth. That was thanks to an RBI ground out from Pollock that scored Ahmed, but they weren't really setting the world on fire.</p>
<p>In the sixth inning, though, things kind of melted down for the Diamondbacks. He gave up a lead off bunt single to Peterson, a one out force out traded Peterson form Freeman at first. Markakis doubled to send Freeman to third, and bounced Collmenter from the game. J. C. Ramirez came in and immediately walked Juan Uribe to load the bases with two outs. A. J. Pierzynski singled to score Freeman and Markakis, bringing the Braves within a run, and they weren't done yet. Jonny Gomes doubled to score Uribe and tie the game at four. That was it for Ramirez's night, and Hale pulled him in favor of Andrew Chafin. Who immediately gave up a double to Todd Cunningham to score Pierzynski and Gomes to put the Braves up by two. 6-4, Braves.</p>
<p>The offense would slowly claw their way back, though.They got back within one thanks to a Yasmany Tomas single that brought home Ender Inciarte. The final blow came after Inciarte walked in the seventh, and A. J. Pollock smashed a ball into the pool for a two-run homerun. 7-6 Dbacks.</p>
<p>That was the final score. Daniel Hudson and Brad Ziegler pitched the eighth and ninth innings respectively, and both put up zeros to finish the game off.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span><iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=wins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2015-06-02&team=Diamondbacks&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width = "450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/wins.aspx?date=2015-06-02&team=Diamondbacks&dh=0&season=2015">FanGraphs</a></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>Kevin Conroy's Batman</b>: A. J. Pollock, 40.8%</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Christian Bale's Batman:</i><i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i> Ender Inciarte, 32.3%</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>George Clooney's Batman: </b>J. C. Ramirez, -36.7%</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Adam West's Batman: </i>Mark Trumbo, -18.8%</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Another busy Tuesday night GDT, with 747 comments at time of writing. Leading the way was freeland1787 with 123, and preston.salisbury right behind him with 121. All present were</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">COTN goes to ford.williams10, in the discussion about whether or not the rest of the team would make opponents pay for walking Goldy:</p>
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<h2 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 5px; line-height: 17px; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Gotham SSm A', 'Gotham SSm B', Arial, sans-serif; overflow: hidden; color: #292929;" class="title collapse_toggle ">This is the problem when you have an offensive team made up of Goldy and the 7 dwarves...</h2>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13px; color: #292929; font-family: 'Gotham Narrow SSm A', 'Gotham Narrow SSm B', Arial, sans-serif;" class="cbody"></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #888888; margin-top: 12px; font-family: 'Gotham Narrow SSm A', 'Gotham Narrow SSm B', Arial, sans-serif;" class="meta">by <a style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #c62030 !important;" target="_blank" class="poster" href="http://www.sbnation.com/users/ford.williams.10?_ga=1.259458179.826664935.1431567084">ford.williams.10</a> on <a style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin-right: 8px; color: #c62030 !important;" class="date" href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/6/2/8716559/gameday-thread-51-6-2-vs-braves#309384672">Jun 2, 2015 | 8:07 PM</a> <span class="user_actions"><a style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #424242; display: inline-block; margin-right: 8px;" title="scroll to parent comment" class="up_link" href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/6/2/8716559/gameday-thread-51-6-2-vs-braves#">up</a> <a style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #424242; display: inline-block; margin-right: 8px;" title="reply to this comment" class="reply_link" href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/6/2/8716559/gameday-thread-51-6-2-vs-braves#">reply</a> <span class="cactions mod "><a style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #424242; display: inline-block; margin-right: 8px;" class="rec_link recommended" href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/6/2/8716559/gameday-thread-51-6-2-vs-braves#"> rec <span class="rec_count">(10)</span></a> <a style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #424242; display: inline-block; margin-right: 8px;" class="flag_link " href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/6/2/8716559/gameday-thread-51-6-2-vs-braves#"> flag</a> <span class="mod_actions"><a style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; color: #424242; display: inline-block; margin-right: 8px;" class="actions_toggle" href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/6/2/8716559/gameday-thread-51-6-2-vs-braves#">actions</a></span></span></span>
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<p>An early game tomorrow, with a 12:40 Arizona time start. Rubby De La Rosa faces off against Mike Foltynewicz. Glad he isn't on the Dbacks. That almost makes Salty's name look normal... Anyway, see you then!</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/6/3/8716641/diamondbacks-7-braves-6-a-roller-coaster-of-a-gameImstillhungry952015-06-03T00:59:23-04:002015-06-03T00:59:23-04:00Diamondbacks 7, Braves 6
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<p>After last night's game, the Diamondbacks were looking for a bounce back game. It wasn't pretty, but they got it. Josh Collmenter did better tonight than he has for a while. He lasted 5 and 2/3 innings, gave up six hits, no walks, three earned runs, and no walks. He left the game with a lead, but J. C. Ramirez came in, allowed two inherited runners to score, taking Josh out of the decision, and then was responsible for three more runs of his own.</p>
<p>The offense picked the pitching up tonight, though. They tagged Braves' starter, Shelby Miller, for three earned runs. This was the first time in ten starts that Miller had actually given up more than two earned runs in a start. That knocked him out of the game in the fifth inning, and then over the course of the next four innings, the Dbacks tagged the Braves' bullpen for three more runs, including a two-run, go ahead homer off the bat of A. J. Pollock in the seventh to give the Dbacks the final score of 7-6. Full recap to follow shortly!</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/6/3/8717601/diamondbacks-7-braves-6Imstillhungry952015-06-02T21:00:02-04:002015-06-02T21:00:02-04:00Game #51 Preview: 6/2, Diamondbacks vs. Braves
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<figcaption>Christian Petersen/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Hoping for better from the Diamondbacks on all fronts this evening. Face it, the game can't really go much worse, can it?</p>
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<span>Shelby Miller</span><br>RHP, 5-2, 1.48</h5>
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<span>Josh Collmenter</span><br>RHP, 3-5, 5.05<br>
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<span>Jace Peterson</span> - 2B</td>
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<span>Ender Inciarte</span> - RF</td>
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<span>Andrelton Simmons</span> - SS</td>
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<span>A.J. Pollock</span> - CF</td>
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<span>Freddie Freeman</span> - 1B</td>
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<span>Paul Goldschmidt</span> - 1B</td>
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<span>Nick Markakis</span> - RF</td>
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<span>David Peralta</span> - LF</td>
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<span>Juan Uribe</span> - 3B</td>
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<span>Yasmany Tomas</span> - 3B</td>
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<span>A.J. Pierzynski</span> - C</td>
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<span>Jordan Pacheco</span> - C</td>
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<span>Jonny Gomes</span> - LF</td>
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<span>Chris Owings</span> - 2B</td>
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<span>Todd Cunningham</span> - CF</td>
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<span>Nick Ahmed</span> - SS</td>
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<td class="td-last td-name">Shelby Miller - RHP</td>
<td class="td-first td-name">Josh Collmenter - RHP</td>
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<p>How our Opening Day starter has fallen, and how glad Josh will be to see the calendar turn to June. In April, he posted the first complete-game shutout in the major-leagues, and had a 2.76 ERA for the month. May has seen that figure almost <i>triple</i>, with an 8.14 ERA, no quality starts in five attempts, and one of the worst outing in D-backs team history, on May 11, when he retired four batters and was charged with nine earned runs. His last couple of outings have been acceptable - both allowing two runs on six hits - but they also both lasted only five innings, and that has been happening far too often out of our rotation thus far.</p>
<p>We have had 32 starts where the pitcher has recorded at least one out after the fifth inning; only two teams in the majors have had fewer similar starts than that, with the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.purplerow.com/">Rockies</a> unsurprisingly the sole National League team. This, along with a significant number of extra-inning contests, plays into a heavy load for the bullpen. Our relievers have already thrown 182.2 innings, which is the most in the National League: it's 11 more than than even the next-highest (the Rockies). It means they've pitched about 27 more innings, faced 103 extra batters and thrown an estimated 388 additional pitches than the National League average bullpen.</p>
<p>It probably helps having a number of converted starters in there: <span>Andrew Chafin</span>, Daniel Hudson, <span>Randall Delgado</span>, <span>Vidal Nuno</span> and <span>Oliver Perez</span> have all been members of major-league rotations at some point (all but Perez and Hudson as recently as last year). That said, I'm not sure why Chip Hale appears to averse to rotating in additional fresh arms to help out with the load. We could have used a mop-up arm last night, rather than forcing Perez into a longer outing than any since he stopped being a starter. We could certainly use one of Collmenter's long outings this evening, with nine games to play before the next scheduled off-day.</p>
https://www.azsnakepit.com/2015/6/2/8715545/arizona-diamondbacks-atlanta-braves-previewJim McLennan