D-backs Preview #11: 4/12 vs. Athletics

A start by our pinch-hitter extraordinaire…

Roster move

A very late change – email timed at 5:13 pm… The Arizona Diamondbacks made 2 roster moves:

• Recalled INF/OF Andrew Young from the Alternate Training Site.
• Placed INF Christian Walker on the 10-day injured list (strained right oblique).

Can MadBum go six?

A start for Madison Bumgarner is something to be concerned about, until proven otherwise. Put it this way, I don’t expect to recap a no-hitter into the seventh inning, like Turambar managed yesterday! I’d be more than happy to settle for a quality start – he Bumgarner has yet to deliver one as a D-back, and this will be his 12th outing. The closest was probably his very first, in San Diego, on Opening Day last year. He came within one strike to three consecutive batters of pitching six shutout innings, but ended up putting them all on base, including a bases-clearing double to Eric Hosmer. He was immediately lifted, and hasn’t lasted longer than 5.1 innings in any appearance since.

The streak of 11 consecutive starts without reaching six innings isn’t quite a Diamondbacks’ record. Randall Delgado went 12, albeit spread over approaching four years, from 2013-17, and Elmer Dessens went 13 in 2003-04. But the record is 15 games, and belongs to none either than… Luke Weaver, whose outing last night was the first time since April 2019 that he had pitched six innings in a Diamondbacks’ uniform. So perhaps that’s some kind of omen for MadBum tonight? Though it probably is sadly relevant that we are now apparently reduced to looking for omens, in the hope of the most well-paid player on the team performing up to standard…

Then there’s this:

Finally, food for thought in this other tweet from Jack. It’s increasingly clear that something needs to be done. What that is? Well, maybe we’ll ask our round table members that next weekend!

Torey Lovullo notes

Zac Gallen will be the starter for Tuesday’s game. While a pitch count limit was not mentioned Torey said they would be careful not to over extend him coming off that fractured elbow injury. Corresponding move TBD. “It’s obvious what he means to this team and this rotation. He is coming off an unbelievable 2020 where he continued to grow and learn and then took that on into the offseason. We saw the same things take place at the start of spring training. We all know what he means to this ball club, and it’s a welcome addition, as was Nick Ahmed, as was Kole Calhoun. We are a good baseball team that just keeps getting better with the return of all these injured players”

Christian Walker is out of the lineup today. Asdrubal Cabrera gets the start at 1b. Although Walker was pulled from yesterday’s game in the top of the 8th when Wyatt Mathisen came in to play first, Torey said there is nothing to it “at this point” , just normal aches and pains and giving his body a break.

EDIT: It did sound like Torey was being evasive, and sure enough Walker just hit the IL with a strained right oblique. Andrew Young has been called up.

Josh Reddick Signing: He is going through protocols so he can get over to Salt River and start playing in games there. Torey managed him in 2010 in the Red Sox organization when he was a prospect.

Joakim Soria : He will not be able to return on the 11th day of his IL stint. He’s still throwing the baseball. No timeline offered however.

Eduardo Escobar: Torey had mentioned before the recent breakout that felt like EE was making good decisions on pitches but his timing was off and he needed some small mechanical adjustments and felt like it would come. He credited the coaches for helping him and of course EE for accepting the coaching and making the adjustments.

Torey Lovullo audio [or link]