Arizona Diamondbacks – Bradley takes early exit, losses toGiants

Archie Bradley, a right-hander for the Arizona Diamondbacks, said he wanted to stay longer in Saturday’s game against the Giants

The inconsistency surrendering Archie Bradley, a right-hander for the Arizona Diamondbacks, must be maddening.

Clearly still in the development stage, Bradley, over the past several weeks, appeared to step out of the shadows and into the sunshine. He gave up three or less runs in each of his last three games, and for the first time in his career, did not walk a hitter in defeating the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 28. Bradley followed up that victory by beating the Rockies in his next start, but hit the wall again in his subsequent start.

Against the San Francisco Giants Saturday, Bradley was pulled after only three innings, and he seemed to fall back into the usual syndrome of high pitch count and poor location The result was an 11-3 defeat to the Giants before 32,301 in Chase Field, and brought Bradley’s season mark down to 6-9. At this point, Bradley could become a 10-game loser and that would include three, along with Patrick Corbin and Shelby Miller, as Arizona pitchers in that category.

Only the Minnesota Twins, among all major league teams, that have two pitchers, Ervin Santana and Tyler Duffey, with double-digit losses.

In an oddity, both manager Chip Hale and Bradley told reporters after the game that the end result was not indicative of Bradley’s physical abilities. With the velocity up on his fastball and an effective curve, Bradley said he simply fell victim to an aggressive Giants’ line-up.

“It’s a funny game,” Bradley said. “My velo was up and the curve was good. They just put good at-bats together. I did miss some spots, and they put better swings on the ball. I just have to execute better.”

Afterward, Bradley said he wanted to stay in the game, and in his words, “give us a chance to win.” With long reliever Patrick Corbin waiting in the wings, Hale said he wanted to get a look at Corbin and the length he would bring. Had this game been played previous to rosters expanding from 25 players, Hale pointed out, there was a strong possibility Bradley would have remained in this contest.

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“I didn’t want to come out, but understand this is Chip’s decision,” Bradley said. “I have a few more starts, and want to build on the positives.”

In most of his recent starts, Bradley seems to sprint out of the gate. Then, there’s one inning which tends to lead to his demise.

Against the Giants, this transpired early and occurred in the third. Here, Bradley tossed 30 pitches in the frame, allowed four hits, four runs and trailed 5-0 at this time of his departure.

“Archie had it, but was unable able to get outs,” Hale said. “They were just on it. I knew he wanted to stay in, and Archie wears his emotions on his sleeve. But, this is part of the growing process, the education process and part of the teaching process.”

Bradley was not the only Diamondbacks’ pitcher on the hot seat in this one. The Giants’ total of 19 hits against five Arizona pitchers was three short of their season mark. That was set against the Pirates at Pittsburgh on June 21.

Among the three Arizona runs, pinch-hitter Peter O’Brien slammed his fifth of the season off of Giants’ starter and winner Johnny Cueto in the third. Later, Brandon Drury knocked Jake Lamb with an RBI single in the seventh, and Yasmany Tomas hit his 28^th homer of the season with two-outs in the ninth.

Down and out

Outfielder A. J. Pollock and catcher Chris Herrmann are likely out for the rest of the season.

Both were injured during Friday night’s extra inning loss to the San Francisco Giants in Chase Field.

Pollock injured his groin chasing down a fly ball in the second inning. Herrmann broke two bones in his right hand sliding into second base in the seventh inning.

Entering Chase Field Saturday, Herrmann was seen with a cast on his right hand. With the healing time-table for broken bones of six to eight weeks, his season is over. In 56 games, Herrmann hit .284 with six homers and 28 RBIs.

Coming off the DL in late August with a fractured right elbow, Pollock was hitting .244 (10-for-41), four home runs and 15 RBIs.

“I was told by the trainers it’s at least seven days before we can see healing with a groin,” said Hale before Saturday’s game. “Will (Pollock) back this season? We’ll see.”

Counting Saturday’s game with the Giants, the Arizona Diamondbacks have 23 games, and three weeks, remaining on their schedule.

On deck

The Giants series concludes Sunday afternoon. That’s when right-hander Zack Greinke (12-5, 4.54 ERA) takes on Giants’ lefty Matt Moore (9-11, 4.14).

Next: Heath to determine De La Rosa's future

Then, the Colorado Rockies move in for three game, and the Los Angeles Dodgers follow with four. That concludes the current home stand.