Heading towards the last chance saloon?
Roster moves
The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 40.
- Recalled from Triple-A Reno: RHP Juan Morillo
- Placed on the 15-day injured list: RHP Shelby Miller (right forearm strain, retro. to July 6)
Just before going to press… That leaves Jalen Beeks as the only member of the Opening Day bullpen to have been there 100% of the time since.
Time to face another division rival, and also a team ahead of the Diamondbacks in the NL wild-card race. It has been a rough streak for Arizona, who have lost eight of their last eleven games, and not won any of previous three series. It really means, with the trade deadline little more than three weeks away, the team can’t afford simply to hang around in the standings. They need to start making real progress back in to the thick of the wild-card battle. Fangraphs put the D-backs’ playoff odds at a mere 18.9%, which is firmly in “sell” territory. Merely splitting this series against the Padres won’t be good enough, and indeed, could perhaps lower the odds further.
That may be why Torey Lovullo decided to give everyone in the rotation an extra day off before this series. It didn’t work out too well yesterday, the offense failing to show up in the 4-0 loss to the Royals. But if it’s a factor in the team taking at least three of the four games in San Diego, then it will have been a chance worth taking. We turn to Zac Gallen for the opener, and he was stellar in his last outing. Zac went seven innings against the Giants, allowing one run with a 10:0 K:BB ratio. A new dawn? Well, we’ve seen this before. It’ll take more than one good outing before I’m convinced.
Even if this ends up being the beginning of the end for the 2025 incarnation of the Diamondbacks, it would still be nice to put one over on the Padres. With the Dodgers basically assured of a playoff spot, helping prevent the Padres from getting in there is almost as laudable a negative goal. Arizona did take two of three the last time they faced San Diego, despite getting narrowly outscored (16-15). Winning this series would both extend hope here, and put something in the spokes of the Padres’ wheel of contention. Seems like a win-win to me.