Diamondbacks vs Dodgers series recap

48 hits, 31 runs, and 3 wins; not bad, not bad at all for a 4-game series.  It’s no wonder why there were so many smiles and high-fives taking place in the D-backs dugout.  The Diamondbacks concluded their 4-game (home opening) set yesterday afternoon with a convincing 11-6 victory.  After taking 3 out of 4 from the Dodgers over the weekend, Arizona now resides at the top of the NL West with a 6-4 record.

Thankfully, the Diamondbacks get to stay at home and play 3 more home games before hitting the road.  They will face the Milwaukee Brewers from Monday-Wednesday.  The Brewers are red hot and sit atop the NL Central with a 7-2 record.  Game 1 will see Arizona’s Zac Gallen and Milwaukee’s Wade Miley go toe-to-toe.

Diamondbacks game 1 recap

The D-backs home opener wasn’t full of smiles and high-fives; it was full of sighs and long looks to the sky.  The Diamondbacks lost their home opener by a score of 5-2.  LA’s starting pitcher that night (Dustin May) was lights out.  He pitched 6 innings and only gave up 2 hits and 1 earned run.

Diamondbacks starter Merill Kelly wasn’t on his A-game Thursday.  He went 5.2 innings giving up 6 hits, 4 walks, and 4 earned runs.  He was credited with the loss.  The offense didn’t do much of anything so the only real bright spot for Arizona Thursday night was the bullpen.  The bullpen went 3.1 innings and surrendered only 1 hit and 1 earned run.

It was only uphill after Thursday night’s defeat…

Diamondbacks game 2 recap

After losing game 1, the Diamondbacks answered back and won the second game of the series 6-3.  Quite an exciting first home win of the season if I do say so myself.  It was as back and forth as a baseball game can be.  It seemed like every time the Dodgers scored, Arizona answered right back.

Diamondbacks starter Madison Bumgarner had a very weird stat line on Friday night.  He went 4.2 innings and gave up 5 hits and 6 walks, but only surrender 2 earned runs.  After Bumgarner’s exit in the top of the 5th, the bullpen came in and shut things down.  The final stat line for the bullpen reads as follows: 4.1 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, and 5 strikeouts.  If that doesn’t get you fired up I don’t know what will.

For the offense, timely hitting was the recipe for victory. Heading into the bottom of the 6th, Arizona was down 3-2 and had a 39% chance of winning the game.  Then Evan Longoria stepped up to the dish to lead off the inning and changed everything.  

On a 1-0 pitch from the future hall of famer Clayton Kershaw, Longo ripped a slider into the left field seats, tying the game at 3.  The next batter Corbin Carroll must have felt inspired, and did the same thing Longoria did.  On a 0-1 pitch, Carroll blistered a fastball into the right field seats, giving the D-backs their first lead of the game.  

Arizona wouldn’t look back as they added two more runs in the 8th; winning the game 6-3.  Timely hitting and a dominant bullpen were the factors in this one; two things we hope to see all season…

Diamondbacks game 3 recap

For Arizona, this was a fun one.  12 runs on 17 hits.  An offensive explosion against a highly talented pitching staff.  As I said, a fun one.

After the Dodgers scored 4 runs in the top of the 1st inning, many fans (myself included) probably thought the game was over before it even really got started.  According to statcast, after the top of the 1st inning, LA had an 82% chance of winning the game.  82%!?

Clearly, the D-backs did not care what the analytics were saying, they came to play on Saturday.  The offense would score 1 run in the bottom of the first and 4 in the bottom of the 2nd to snatch the early lead away from the Dodgers.  The score was 5-4 after 2 wild innings, and the Diamondbacks never lost the lead after that; eventually winning the contest 12-8.

Everyone had their hand in the pot on Saturday.  Here were the standouts on offense from Saturday's impressive win:

Josh Rojas: 3-5, 2 runs, and 1 RBI
Ketel Marte: 3-5, 3 runs, and 2 RBIs
Lourdes Gurriel Jr.: 3-4, 1 run, and 3 RBIs
Alek Thomas: 4-4, 2 runs, and 1 RBI
Geraldo Perdomo: 2-4, 2 runs, and 3 RBIs

Diamondbacks game 4 recap

It is safe to say that it was a “fun-day Sunday” in Phoenix this Easter!  The D-backs concluded the 4-game set with a convincing 11-6 victory over LA.

The only time the Dodgers had the lead in this game was in the top of the 1st.  D-backs starting pitcher Ryne Nelson would pitch 6 quality innings giving up 3 earned runs and striking out 3 yesterday.  Like Saturday’s game, the offense carried the load for Arizona on Easter.

To score 11 runs without recording a single home run is impressive.  What is equally impressive is that Arizona racked up 16 hits and every starter recorded at least one!  Arizona was persistent in the series finale scoring at least one run in the first 5 innings.  In 4 of those innings, they scored multiple runs! Here are the standouts on offense from Sunday’s impressive win: 

Josh Rojas: 3-5 with 2 runs
Pavin Smith: 2-4, 2 runs, and 3 RBIs (1st game since being called up from Reno)
Nick Ahmed: 2-5, 1 run, and 2 RBIs

Torey Lovullo and the coaching staff have to be smiling from ear to ear after this past weekend.  3 straight wins against one of the best teams in baseball; the offense looks amazing, the bullpen looks solid, and the 5th starter in the rotation had a quality start.  The D-backs are slithering in the right direction heading into a 3-game set with the Brew Crew…