The Diamondbacks come home from another disappointing road trip to face the Mariners.
After sweeping the Braves, the Diamondbacks moved on to Cincinatti and promptly got swept themselves. It was a largely uncompetitive series, crowned by a 13-1 blow out. The weather did them no favors, the offense was quiet, but Gallen was good again, so that’s a positive. They remain in last place in the NL West (there is no fifth team), and further and further behind in the Wild Card race.
The Mariners on the other hand, are just 2.5 games behind Houston in the AL West and 1.5 behind in the Wild Card race. They are scuffling right now, however, coming into the series 3-7 in their last ten and having dropped consecutive series to the Angels and O’s.
Game 1: 6/9, 6:40p — Merrill Kelly (6-2, 3.43 ERA, 119 ERA+, 0.98 WHIP) vs. Emerson Hancock (2-2, 5.19 ERA, 70 ERA+, 1.47 WHIP)
In Kelly’s last five games, he has given up one or fewer runs in three of them, and four or more in the other two. Not exactly the Merrill The Mainstay stability we are used to. That being said, he is beating his career numbers in ERA, ERA+, and WHIP, so he’s still the guy overall. The question becomes, which will show up and will the cramps stay away now that it’s June in Chase Field.
Hancock is making just his 25th start spread across three seasons of play in this game. He hasn’t had a ton of success so far, but by far the biggest thing that jumps out as his issue is a HR/9 of 1.6 so far in his career. It works out to be a home run for every start he’s had. This game could easily be a soft landing for an offense that really struggled over the previous weekend.
Game 2: 6/10, 6:40p — Brandon Pfaadt (7-4, 5.51 ERA, 74 ERA+, 1.36 WHIP) vs. Bryan Woo (5-3 3.07 ERA, 119 ERA+, 0.95 WHIP)
To say that Pfaadt has gotten rocked over his past two starts is an understatement. Of course, he gave up eight runs in one without recording an out, then only last three while giving up six in the next start. Even before that, though, the month of May was a tough one for him. He only gave up less than three runs once, and at the start of the month had another stinker where he gave up seven. With Burnes out, Pfaadt is one who the team will need to step up to fill in the gaps.
Woo has pitched very well for the Mariners this season. He has completed the sixth inning in every start and has only given up more than three runs in three of his starts. The possibly good news for the Diamondbacks is one of those starts was his last appearance against the O’s, where he went six innings and gave up four runs. He will be the biggest test for the Diamondbacks this series by far.
Game 3: 6/11, 12:40p — Eduardo Rodriguez (1-3, 6.70 ERA, 61 ERA+, 1.65 WHIP) vs. Bryce Miller (2-5, 5.73 ERA, 64 ERA+, 1.52 WHIP)
Rodriguez made his first start after returning from the IL last week against the Reds and he did fine. Five innings, on a pitch limit, and only two runs given up. That sort of performance on a regular basis would be slightly disappointing from the standpoint of how much we paid for him, but would we welcomed given what we have been getting out of him.
Miller has been mostly consistent, if nothing else. He typically pitches four or five innings and typically gives up four runs, give or take. He’s had some good games, but he’s also had a seven run blow up to balance that out. Last time out, he gave up five runs to the Angels in five innings of work.
Conclusion
This should be a series they win. The M’s are throwing out two struggling pitchers, one of whom really likes to give up home runs. This is a team that has at several points in the last two seasons had the best offense in baseball, and I’d like to think that pretty much regardless of what the pitching does, they’d be able to put up a couple wins. But boy is that offense cold and the pitching worse. I’ll be honest, I don’t like how this series feels, so I’m unfortunately going to say the Diamondbacks lose 1-2.