Three Diamondbacks made the NL All-Star team
Recaps
[AZ Central] Diamondbacks continue pre-all-star crash in series loss to Kansas City Royals – In getting shut out for just the second time this season, the Diamondbacks tied a season low with three hits and walked only once. Their trio of All-Stars had miserable days, with Carroll, Marte and Suarez each going 0-for-4. Carroll struck out in all four of his trips to the plate. Manager Torey Lovullo repeated his desire for his players not to look forward to the All-Star break, but instead to remain locked in and focused until it arrives. At this pace, though, the break can’t come soon enough. “I want us to play all the way through it,” Lovullo said. “We’ve got seven games left before it happens. We’re right at that critical point in determining which way our season will go.”
[Arizona Sports] Diamondbacks shut out vs. Royals to end another ‘frustrating’ homestand – “ The homestand was set up by a couple tough losses in the Miami series,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “It just continued to build frustration. That’s just the nature of the game and where we’re at right now. … You go 3-7 at home in a space we feel very comfortable playing in with great fans and it doesn’t work out? It’s really frustrating.” On the mound, Anthony DeSclafani received the spot start for Arizona to give its rotation an extra day off during this 17 games in as many days stretch. DeSclafani had been working in long relief, and he started the game with three hitless innings. The Royals got to him in the fourth on solo home runs from Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez. Kansas City tacked on two more runs in the fifth, as DeSclafani finished with four earned runs in four innings pitched.
Team news
[Dbacks.com] Suárez, Carroll to join Marte as reserves for NL at 2025 All-Star Game – “It’s a great recognition,” Carroll said. “Just really, really happy to be in this position compared to the spot I was last year. I think it says a lot about the work that we both put in individually but as a group, too. I think when you talk about the individual accomplishments, accolades and being recognized, a lot of that is based on the work of the whole of our offense and I think it’s really cool to be celebrated in that way and recognized, but … I think to be able to represent kind of the whole is meaningful.” Suárez said. “I feel happy, feel proud of myself because I know I’m working hard with conviction. I told myself earlier this year that one of my goals is to be part of the All-Star Game, and today, that dream has come true.”
[Mike’s Hardball Talk] Addressing Jake McCarthy’s postgame comments – In my personal opinion, it’s a great quote. It’s a rare candid moment for a player, where he delivered the line with enthusiasm. It makes a great TV moment, and he’s 100% right with that sentiment. We as fans, media members, or tired out baseball writers who feel like they have to opine on everything don’t see the work that goes on behind the scenes. McCarthy got off to a terrible slump to begin the year, but had a big night. He hit a three-run home run that pushed all the momentum in the game to the Diamondbacks, and they didn’t relent. Making comments like that is a double-edged sword for both McCarthy and the team. It can be a galvanizing moment for a club after two big wins. However, it can also make you look foolish, and put a target on your back, when the team fails to respond.
[SI] Diamondbacks Manager Gives Critical Health Updates Sunday – Moreno is not yet able to do any baseball activities that involve his right throwing hand. He is able to run, and catch balls off the Trajekt machine with his glove hand, but is unable to throw or swing a bat. None of those activities are projected to start up prior to the All-Star break, meaning Moreno is likely out until the end of July as he’ll need time to ramp back up and get into some rehab games before returning. Kendall Graveman will throw a rehab outing in the Arizona Complex league on Tuesday. If that goes well, he’ll have a second game on Friday. His return timeline will be evaluated after that, but most likely it will be after the All-Star Break which starts Monday July 14.
[USA Today] Zac Gallen doesn’t want to be in Diamondbacks’ MLB trade deadline rumors – It may be premature to say he’s completely back, but teams scouting him have been impressed, believing that the D-backs will trade him before he hits free agency this winter. “I would like to not be in that discussion,” Gallen, who has three top-10 Cy Young finishes in the last five years, tells USA TODAY Sports. “I would like for us – and it starts with me – to put us in a position where the front office believes this is a team they can add to where we can finish this thing out and see what happens come October. Let’s see what happens.”
Minor league round-up
- Sacramento 15, Reno 13, 11 innings
- Amarillo 6, Midland 5
- Eugene 7, Hillsboro 4
- Visalia 3, Rancho Cucamonga 2
Reno’s losing streak reached seven games on a crazy afternoon that was very Pacific Coast League. Yu-Min Lin was solid but left after six innings trailing 4-2. They cut the deficit to one run on a Seth Brown single, but Matt Foster gave up a two-run shot in the top of the ninth to make it 6-3. Brown responded with a three-run home run (his second since joining the organization) to tie things up. The teams traded zombie runs in the tenth, but Anthony Gose struggled in the eleventh to the extent that position player Andy Weber was forced into duty, and eight runs were surrendered. But the Aces weren’t done. Juan Corniel, inserted as a pinch runner in the ninth, singled home one run. Andy Weber walked with the bases full. A.J. Vukovich hit a grand slam to pull within two runs. Aramis Garcia singled and (after a pitching change) Albert Almora Jr. walked to put the tying run on base with no one out. But Jorge Barrosa struck out and Connor Kaiser grounded into a double play to end it. In addition to Brown (who had four hits) Barrosa had three hits. Andrew Saalfrank pitched two scoreless innings.
Things were not quite as crazy in Amarillo, but a comfortable lead almost slipped away. Christian Cerda had been the offensive star, homering and doubling and driving in three. Jose Cabrera had battled command issues but pitched six innings of one-run ball. The RockHounds got two back in the seventh, but Zane Russell came on to hold things to the ninth, when Landon Sims came in to pitch with a 6-3 lead. Sims wasn’t bad; an infield single, a seeing-eye single, and a bloop single made it 6-4 with two on and no one out, but he got a strikeout. Then the hardest-hit ball of the inning was a line drive single to right, making it 6-5 and putting the tying run on third. A ground ball to shortstop was not hit hard enough for a double play, so Jose Fernandez came home, the runner got in a pickle, and the Sod Poodles almost got a double play as a result. (There was also the rare dead ball interference called against a base runner when, after the throw from Cerda to third base got a few feet away, the base runner pushed either Groover or Fernandez to prevent them going after it.) A ground ball to Manuel Pena at first base ended things.
The Hops did get more hits than their opposition, but they didn’t draw any walks, while Hops’ pitching allowed twelve. Liam Norris, in particular, had issues with wildness, walking six while getting just two outs. Anderdson Rojas collected three hits, and Slade Caldwell was also on base three times, as he was hit by a pitch yet again in addition to his two singles. Druw Jones singled and Kevin Sim had the lone extra-base hit, a double.
Erick Reynoso pitched six brilliant innings, striking out eight, walking three, and allowing just one infield hit. But with his outing complete, there was still no score, as despite getting more baserunners, the Rawhide hadn’t been able to break through. It looked like more of the same would happen as they loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth without the benefit of a hit, but Abdias De La Cruz struck out for the second out of the inning. Jakey Josepha walked for the first run, and Alexander Benua got an infield single for another. Grayson Hitt came on to pitch, loaded the bases with no one out, and then struck out the next two batters before a groundout got him out of the inning. Jorge Minyety apparently thought that was something to emulate, as he walked the first two he faced and hit the next, but he was pulled for Alvin Guzman. Guzman struggled with his control and allowed two runs to score (on a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch) but things remained tied. Benua hit his second home run in the bottom of the frame, and Jake Fitzgibbons came on to work a perfect ninth and extend his scoreless innings streak to 21.2.
And, elsewhere…
[MLB Trade Rumors] Nationals Fire PBO Mike Rizzo, Manager Dave Martinez – Washington’s 6-4 loss to the Red Sox today dropped the Nats to a dismal 37-53 for the season. Only the White Sox and Rockies have won fewer games than the Nationals, who are on pace for their sixth straight losing season since winning the 2019 World Series. Given this backdrop, it isn’t surprising that Nationals ownership has chosen to make a fresh start, even if the specific timing is a little surprising. Some contractual language was also likely at play, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes that the middle of July loomed as a deadline for the organization to decide whether or not to exercise club options on Rizzo and Martinez for the 2026 season. [Jim: Rizzo was the D-backs scouting director from 2000-06]
[Awful Announcing] ESPN ripped for airing cornhole instead of MLB All-Star Selection Show – The selection show, which was slated to begin at 5 p.m. ET, was preempted by professional cornhole for approximately ten minutes. While that’s not entirely unprecedented — live sports overruns impact programming all the time — the fact that it was cornhole pushing back an MLB show caught fans’ attention. The decision to stay with cornhole is likely drawing more attention given the icy relationship between MLB and ESPN at this moment. Earlier this year, ESPN decided to exercise its option to exit its media rights agreement with MLB, leaving the league with a $550 million hole to fill next season.
[MLB] Astros sweep Dodgers in LA for 1st time since 2008 – It was the Astros’ preparation that helped them take all three games from the Dodgers — Houston’s first series sweep in Los Angeles since 2008. Preparation. Attention to detail. Making the big plays, but also making the routine plays. Producing from the bottom of the order. It’s all added up as the Astros have won 19 of their last 24 games. It goes beyond one weekend. The Astros now have series wins against every current National League divisional leader: in addition to the Dodgers, they swept the Phillies in three games from June 24-26 and took two out of three from the Cubs later that same week.
Heads of State (2025)
Rating: C+
Dir: Ilya Naishuller
Star: Idris Elba, John Cena, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Paddy Considine
I could likely do a whole article on “Presidential Ass-kickers” from Air Force One through Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter to White House Down. And if one such national leader is good, then two must be twice as much fun, right? Well, actually… Yeah, it kinda is. This is just the kind of forgettably entertaining Amazon Prime movie I was looking for on a Saturday afternoon. It provides surprisingly decent action (or not so surprising, if you know Naishuller directed Nobody), and great chemistry between the two leads.