Arizona Diamondbacks: Team heads to the Bay Area
Continuing their road trip, the Diamondbacks are heading to the Bay Area to take on the San Francisco Giants (42-68) in a three game series.
The Giants, who are having a rough season, scheduled Madison Bumgarner to start on Friday. The Diamondbacks are leading with rookie Anthony Banda.
Banda is starting in place of Robbie Ray, who is still out on concussion protocol after being hit in the head by a line drive.
Back to the rough season, the once-giant Bay Area powerhouse has sunk to a new low. A 35-game low to be exact, which is the lead the Los Angeles Dodgers currently hold over the last place Giants.
With just 42 wins, the Giants are the second worst team in baseball, coming behind the Phillies (39-67). It is a fall from grace that is hard for Bay Area fans to process after winning three World Series championships between 2010 and 2014.
The Diamondbacks and the Giants faced off in two series, totaling seven games in April, but haven’t met since. Arizona walked away from the early-season matchups with four wins and three losses.
The Giants outcome for this series looks bleak. In fact, the Giants next three series will set them up against some of the National League’s best, or at least playoff-bound teams, including the Diamondbacks, the Chicago Cubs and the Washington Nationals.
As previously noted, Banda will Friday’s start, as announced after Thursday’s game. The young 23-year-old southpaw looked promising in his first career start on July 22.
Through the first five innings, Banda only gave up one run: a solo homer to Bryce Harper.
Things fell apart a little in the sixth inning as Banda gave up three more earned runs. He exited the game after 5.2 innings. However, he should see a better result against the Giants, who are only batting .245 to the Nationals .275 team average.
The Giants should also expect to face Taijuan Walker and Patrick Corbin.
The Diamondbacks offense is hoping to heat up after a successful trip to Wrigley Field. Despite a 16-3 loss in the series opener, the Diamondbacks came back and won the series. They have strong pitching and sparks of hope from the offense to thank for both wins.
Jake Lamb hit two doubles and drove in three RBI in game two, while Paul Goldschmidt homered three times in the series finale. However, Ketel Marte and his hot bat will also be re-joining the team in San Francisco.
The Diamondbacks will start the Bay Area series against Bumgarner (1-4), but should also see Matt Cain and Jeff Samardzija.
Friday’s game is scheduled to start at 7:15 p.m.