A tough series offensive won’t get easier today
Roster move
The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 39.
- Reinstated from the Bereavement List: OF Alek Thomas
OK, so maybe this will be Zac Gallen’s last start as a Diamondback? As long as we don’t get another mid-game sale, and have to yank him off the field, like Arizona had to do with Randal Grichuk yesterday. That would be awkward. But with four days to go until the trade deadline, I would not be surprised if the D-backs provide a daily deal.
Arizona has managed precisely one run over the first two games, and that came on a sacrifice fly. Their last hit with a runner in scoring position was on Wednesday. It came in the 8th inning, and was by somebody who isn’t even on the team any more, Josh Naylor. Since then, Arizona are 0-for-11 with RISP, and don’t have an extra-base hit in their last 73 at-bats, dating back to Corbin Carroll’s double earlier in the same inning on Wednesday. Oh, and this afternoon they go up against Paul Skenes. But he’s clearly useless, given his record of 5-8 this year, right?
Well… Just don’t look at his 1.91 ERA, or his league-leading 5.2 bWAR for a pitcher. In the integrated era, no qualified major league pitcher has had both an ERA under two and a losing record. The closest was Bob Veale of the 1968 Pirates, who went 13-14 with a 2.05 ERA, the season before they lowered the mound. And Skenes has been even better of late. This month he has a 0.85 ERA, with a K:BB of 27:2 across 21 innings of work. Skenes is 1-1 on July. It reminds me of Randy Johnson in 2004, posting a 2.09 ERA in July, striking out 51 over 43 innings… and going 1-3. The Big Unit only clinched a winning record in his final start of the year.