The Dbacks finally won a road series for the first time since April!
That’s right folks, the Dbacks had not won a road series since APRIL. It’s only been give or take 4 or so months since then. However, the wait is over as the team finally got over the hump. They did it against the Seattle Mariners which only makes it sweeter.
The Dbacks spent the weekend in Seattle and the cool air brought the team’s rookies to life. Indeed, the rookies are who won this series for the team. The team pushed the Mariners’ chances of making the playoffs to now 3 games back of a wild card spot. Their record is 77-66 and they will have to leapfrog 3 teams to make it now.
Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks are “fighting” for the worst record in the MLB. The team is only 1 game ahead of the Orioles for the second-worst record in the MLB. Their record is 47-96. Right now, the team is guaranteed a 100+ loss season. The saving grace would be them not setting a franchise record for the worst record in team history. The team only needs 5 more wins to surpass the 2004 team record of 51-111. That means the team only needs to go 5-14 in their final 19 games of the season. Please get at least 5 wins Dbacks. Come on now. Onto the game recaps…
Friday, Sept 10th, Dbacks: 4 Mariners: 5
The Diamondbacks struggled in the early part of this game with Madison Bumgarner pitching. I feel kind of responsible for Madbum’s recent string of poor performances ever since I wrote an article about how well he was doing. Madbum gave 6 innings but once again allowed 5 runs on 8 hits. His command was a lot better as he only walked 1 and struck out 6. His problem was the HR ball. He gave up 3 home runs in the game. Our bullpen finished the game with 2 scoreless innings.
Tom Murphy slaughtered Madbum as he hit 2 home runs off of him. If he wasn’t in the lineup, the Dbacks probably win. There were some positives to be had though. Henry Ramos hit his first career HR in the game off of Marco Gonzales. Carson Kelly had a double and RBI. The best part though was Seth Beer making his MLB debut. The top prospect pinch-hit in the 8th inning for Christian Walker and promptly deposited the ball into the right-field seats for a home run. That’s right, his first hit in the bigs was a home run. Not many can say that. Hopefully, that’s just the first of many in a Dbacks uniform.
Saturday, Sept 11th, Never Forget, Dbacks: 7 Mariners: 3
Let’s Roll. On such a big day for America, the Dbacks played up to their abilities. This was a revenge game for Humberto Castellanos. After being knocked around by the Mariners the weekend prior, he showed he can pitch against them Saturday. He went 5.1 innings of 3 run ball off of 4 hits. He walked 1 and struck out 4. It was a great bounce-back showing for him. Also, it was a great showing for the bullpen as well. They went 3.2 innings of scoreless ball. It was great to see them finally succeed.
However, the story of this game was the Var-show that was being put on. Daulton Varsho absolutely demolished the Mariners. He and the Dbacks ambushed the Mariners ace Chris Flexen. They got 5 runs off of him in only 5 innings. Varsho went 3/4 with a double and a moon-shot of an HR. It was his tenth of the year. He had 4 RBI’s. Additionally, David Peralta, Pavin Smith, and Seth Beer each had an RBI. The bottom half of the order won the game for the Dbacks.
Hitters #5-9 went 8/18 with 7 RBIs, 2 doubles, 1 HR, and 2 walks. It was a terrific showing for a team that is filled with young players trying to find their way in the MLB. It’s also a great glimpse into the amazing future this team has. They are oozing with so much potential.
Daulton Varsho has been on fire since August 21st. He has hit .305, .328, .627, with 5 doubles, 1 triple, 4 HR’s, 11 RBI’s, and 9 runs scored in only 17 games. That’s a total of 61 plate appearances. Stay hot Vars-how!
Sunday, Sept 12th, Dbacks: 5 Mariners: 4
The Diamondbacks won the series! Woohoo! The team gave a solid performance all around. They were led by the wonderful Tyler Gilbert who pitched 5.1 great innings. He only gave up 2 runs on 2 hits while walking 1 and striking out 2. He’s a workhorse. He isn’t going to walk a bunch of guys or strike a ton out. Yet, he’s going to give you innings every time out. He will put the team in a position to win. That’s all you can ask for!
He got the 2nd win of his career and the first since his amazing No-Hitter. The bullpen pitched well until the 9th inning. J.B. Wendelken was in for the save. He gave up 2 runs to make this game a lot closer. However, he got the job done and got his first save as a Dbacks player.
Meanwhile, for the Mariners, Yusei Kikuchi started and gave up only one run. The Mariners’ solid bullpen was not solid for them Sunday. The bullpen combined to give up 4 runs in 4 innings and lost the series for the Mariners.
As for the Dbacks offense, Ketel Marte, Henry Ramos, and Seth Beer led the charge. Ketel had a home run while striking three times. That’s his first 3-K game since late 2019. Christian Walker had 2 hits and scored a run. Plus, David Peralta had another double (choo-choo). Henry Ramos had a 2-RBI double and Beer had 2 hits and an RBI double as well.
Once again, the 4-7 hitters did a lot of the damage. For the game, they went 7/15 with 4 runs scored, 3 RBIs, 3 doubles, and 1 walk.
Keep it up Dbacks! Let’s not finish with the worst record in team history. The snakes are headed to Los Angeles to begin a series against the team there. That starts Monday night and goes through Wednesday. Look for the preview article soon!
As always,
May the Force be with You…