Arizona Diamondbacks Game Recap: Jeremy Hellickson Struggles in Loss
Game Recap:
Another Diamondbacks starters went less than five innings, and Giants rookie starter Chris Heston tossed six quality innings and the Giants beat the Dbacks 5-2 to claim the opening series of the year on Wednesday night at Chase Field.
The Diamondbacks got the scoring started early in the first inning. No hits were recorded, but they took advantage of some Giants mistakes.
A.J. Pollock was hit by a pitch to leadoff the inning, and then Heston made a throwing error on a pickoff attempt, and Pollock advanced to third. Chris Owings grounded out, and the Dbacks manufactured a run to take an early 1-0 lead.
The Giants would get two back in the second thanks to doubles from Nori Aoki, and Matt Duffy to take a 2-1 lead.
San Francisco added another run in the fifth on a Brandon Crawford RBI single and it gave the Giants a 3-1 lead.
The Diamondbacks got another run off of a Giants mistake in the sixth. With Mark Trumbo batting, Paul Goldschmidt scored on a passed ball by Giants catcher Hector Sanchez.
The Giants sealed the deal in the ninth when Casey McGehee hit a two run home run to give the Giants a 5-2 lead. That would hold up.
The Diamondbacks couldn’t win the first series of the year, and will go into a series with the Dodgers at 1-2.
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Thoughts and Observations:
Starter Struggles: Yet another starter failed to go more than five innings. Jeremy Hellickson went 4.1 innings giving up 9 hits and 3 runs all earned while walking two and striking out two.
At some point the starters have to turn in quality starts. The bullpen is doing their job. They have a 1.42 era in 12.2 innings. At some point the bullpen is going to get gassed. Its time for the rotation to step it up.
RISP: Even though Hellickson went less than five innings, he only allowed three runs and kept the Diamondbacks in the game against a rookie making an emergency start.
The problem was the offense couldn’t take advantage with men on. The Dbacks lineup went 0-8 with RISP, and left 6 on base. The Giants left twelve on base, but they got four hits with RISP which ended up being the defense.
Up Next:
The Diamondbacks have an off day today, and then they will start a series with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night. Chase Anderson will take on Brett Anderson.