Diamondbacks Mother's Day Series Preview

The Diamondbacks return home for a three-game series with their rivals, the Colorado Rockies. The Diamondbacks and Rockies have each surpassed preseason expectations of the two ball clubs. The Rockies are leading the MLB in hitting though have struggled with their pitching. They rank 26th in pitching in the MLB. The opposite is true for the Diamondbacks. Their starters rank in the top 5 of the MLB while their overall pitching is top 1/2 of the league. Meanwhile, they are top 5 in both home runs walks, and strikeouts for their hitters, but yet still rank 25th in OPS as a team.

The Diamondbacks enter the series on a high note having just swept the Miami Marlins and winning 7 of their last 10 games. Colorado comes in on a good note too having won their last 2 games and climbing to third place in the NL West. Arizona is 13-13 which is last in the NL West. The Rockies are 15-10. They have struggled on the road going 4-5 while the Dbacks have struggled at home going 5-7. Someone's leaving this series with a winning record in one of those two.

All time, the Diamondbacks are 234-192 against the Rockies with 5.5 runs scored on average. They've allowed 5.2 runs per game on average. In the '20s, the Dbacks are 14-15. Let's see if they can't get over .500 against the Rockies this weekend.

The Diamondbacks vs Rockies pitching matchups

Friday, April 6th, 6:40 start

Merrill Kelly is on the mound for the Serpientes Friday night. That's right, the Diamondbacks are wearing their City Connect jerseys for the first time this year! I love that jersey and I hope you do too. Merrill leads all MLB pitchers in WAR so far this season with a 1.5 WAR. On the season, Merrill is 2-1 with a 1.27 ERA, 26 K, and only 7 walks in 28.1 innings. He's yet to give up an HR this season and that ERA is tops for the NL. As for the Rockies, they are sending out Chad Kuhl to the mound. Kuhl has been the Rockies' ace so far pitching beyond better than he ever did for the Pirates the last few years. He's 3-0 with a 1.90 ERA and 17 K in 23.2 innings.

Ketel Marte has hit an HR off Kuhl while Carson Kell and David Peralta are 0-9 against Kuhl. Charlie Blackmon is 6-12 versus Merrill. Ryan McMahon has an HR off Kelly but is only hitting .188 against him in 16 at-bats. It should be a great game.

Saturday, May 7th, 5:10 start AZ time, Mother's Day Giveaway

On Saturday, the Diamondbacks are giving away 5,000 Mother's Day Rose Gold hats to the moms that come.

Pitching on Saturday will be Zach Davies vs Kyle Freeland. Davies is the hometown player for the Diamondbacks whereas funnily enough, Freeland is the hometown player for the Rockies. Davies has mixed good and okay starts so far this year. He's 1-1 with a 4.24 ERA and 16 K with 11 walks in 23.1 innings. Freeland just got that large extension but isn't pitching like it. He is 1-3 with a 4.85 ERA and 21 K with 7 walks in 26 innings. He has given up 3 HRs.

Nick Ahmed has hit well against Freeland with 2 HRs and 8 RBI in 30 at-bats. So has Carson Kelly who has 2 HRs and 2 RBI in 12 at-bats. Ketel Marte is hitting .345 with an HR and 4 RBI in 29 at-bats. Peralta is hitting .353 in 17 at-bats with an HR and 3 RBI. Even Pavin Smith is 1 for 3 while Varsho is 2 for 5 with an HR and 2 RBI. One last player has hit 2 HRs and 3 RBI in 20 at-bats against Freeland. Who? It's Christian Walker. I feel good for an HR in this game.

Elias Diaz, Sam Hillard, and CJ Cron each have an HR against Davies with 8 RBI. Blackmon, McMahon, and Randal Grichuk are each hitting sub-.150 with over 10 at-bats apiece versus Davies. Not bad numbers at all!

Sunday, May 8th, 1:10 pm AZ time, the Milkman is on the delivery, also HAPPY MOTHER'S Day! Be sure to get your Mother's Day giveaway Moms as the Dbacks are giving away 5,000 crossbody bags

As you probably already figured out, Zac Gallen is on the mound for the Diamondbacks in the series finale. He's been dominant this year. Over his 21.1 innings, he's given up 3 runs, no HRs, struck out 19, walked 4, and is 1-0. Those are awesome numbers for the team's young ace. Opposing him is the Rockies' historical ace of the past few years. It's German Marquez. Marquez is 0-2 with a 6.92 ERA and 19 K with 6 walks and a whopping 20 runs given up in 26 innings.

The Rockies batters have struggled against Gallen. Only Charlie Blackmon, 9 for 18 against Gallen, and Ryan McMahon is hitting .294 with an HR against Gallen that have more than 6 at-bats. The rest of the team is hitting under .200. As for the Diamondbacks? David Peralta is hitting .341 over 44 at-bats with 2 HR and 8 RBI against Marquez. Walker is 5 for 15 with 2 HR and 5 RBI. Ketel Marte has 8 hits with an HR and 5 RBI. Even Varsho is 2 for 7. The Dbacks should be able to hit the ball this series.

I hope to see you all out there this weekend! Let's go Dbacks!