With the Trade Deadline approaching in a little over 5 hours, I will take a break from trade rumors and give a quick recap of the Diamondbacks sweep of the Mariners.
After losing 6 of 7 coming out of the All Star Break, the Dbacks have reversed their fortunes winning 5 in a row taking 3 of 4 from the Brewers to end a home stand, and now they have swept the struggling Mariners in Seattle to begin a long road trip.
The Diamondbacks put together their most complete series of the season, and it came at an important time.
The Dbacks finally got some quality 2 out hits with RISP, and the offense started to score runs in bunches instead of scoring a few all in 1 inning. The offense put a combined total of 16 runs on the board on Saturday and Sunday which was more than enough for the starters.
In the last 7 days across 6 starts no starting staff in baseball has been better than the Diamondbacks with a 1.58 ERA in 40 innings allowing just 28 hits and 7 earned runs while striking out 40.
Jul 22, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray in the first inning against the Miami Marlins at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Game 1: Dbacks-4 Mariners-3
Diamondbacks starter Robbie Ray threw the ball great once again to open up the series on Monday night.
He tossed 7 innings of 2 run ball allowing 6 hits and equaling his season high with 8 strikeouts.
Ray could have gone deeper into the outing but the Mariner hitters ran up his pitch count fouling off a lot of pitches and Ray just couldn’t find an out pitch something he will have to work on.
Mariners starter Mike Montgomery gave up 3 runs 2 earned over his first 2 innings, but only allowed 1 hit over the rest of his 6 2/3 innings.
The Dbacks don’t hit many home runs (19th in baseball) but they got an early lead in the 1st when Paul Goldschmidt launched his 22nd HR of the season to make it 1-0.
Then in the 2nd former Mariner Wellington Castillo making his return hit a 429 ft shot to make it 2-0.
The Dbacks had a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the 9th but Oliver Perez blew the save thanks to a 2 out RBI single from Mike Zunino.
Seattle native Jake Lamb playing his first game in the ballpark he grew up watching games with family and friends in attendance drove in the winning run in the 10th with a sac fly.
Jul 28, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks left fielder David Peralta (6) hits an RBI-single against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
Game 2: Dbacks-8 Mariners-4
The Diamondbacks offense woke up and gave rookie right hander Zach Godley a cushion in the first.
David Peralta singled in A.J. Pollock in the first to make it 1-0, and then he lined a double past Mariner left fielder Dudtin Ackely who is now a member of the Yankees to make it 2-0.
Just like that Peralta had his 4th multi RBI game of July. July has been a great month for David. He is hitting .311 with 13 extra base hits and 11 RBI’s. Peralta leads the N.L. in triples with 8.
The Dbacks broke the game open in a 3 run 6th to chase Hisahi Iwakuma from the game. Goldschmidt, Peralta, Lamb and Chris Owings all singled before a ground rule double by Nick Ahmed plated the 6th run.
Dbacks starter Zach Godley didn’t have his command in his second major league start throwing just 54 of his 94 pitches for strikes and couldn’t locate his 2 seamer.
His 2 big mistakes were home runs by Zunino and Nelson Cruz on pitches up in the zone.
He was able to keep the ball down for the most part inducing a ton of ground balls and 2 double plays.
The Dbacks would add 2 more runs in the 8th to take the series.
Jul 19, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin throws in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Game 3: Dbacks-8 Mariners-2
For the 3rd day in a row the Dbacks took a 1st inning lead this time collecting 4 runs off King Feilx Hernandez.
Gold y’s 2 run RBI single gave the Snakes a 2-0 lead and then Castillo homered again to make it 4-0.
At that point you knew it wasn’t going to be Hernandez’s day.
The Dbacks added 2 runs in the 7th and 1 in the 8th to make it 8-1 going on the 8th.
Dbacks starter Patrick Corbin turned in another great outing allowing 2 runs over 6 innings.
Castillo became just the sixth player to hit 2 HR’s in one game off Felix.