The D-backs won their first post-deadline series
Recaps
[AZ Central] Diamondbacks end series drought, beat Athletics – Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen addressed his team before their series began here a few days ago. The trade deadline behind them, Hazen wanted to explain the moves he made, but he also wanted to deliver a message. The remaining games matter, he told them — and they could help shape the future of this organization. For center fielder Alek Thomas, the message resonated. “This is our chance to prove ourselves and try to go out there and win games,” Thomas said after the Diamondbacks beat the Athletics, 6-4, on Sunday afternoon, August 3, to end what had been a miserable road trip on a positive note. “There are people in this clubhouse that are important — important to the future of the organization. I appreciate him coming in and saying that.” Thomas is one of those people.
[Dbacks.com] Well-rounded offensive showing gives D-backs rubber match win over A’s – Blaze Alexander homered for the first time this season and Alek Thomas continued his recent surge at the plate with three hits as the Diamondbacks beat the Athletics, 6-4, on Sunday afternoon at Sutter Health Park. The D-backs won their first series since July 18-20 in St. Louis, and Torey Lovullo’s ballclub has now won back-to-back games after losing six of the first seven of this nine-game road trip. Eduardo Rodriguez allowed two runs and six hits over five innings. The lefty had five strikeouts and three walks. Tyler Locklear reached base three times and Geraldo Perdomo added three hits to help the Diamondbacks to their third consecutive series win over the A’s.
Team news
[Dbacks Under Review] D-backs Ride Momentum Into Homestand After Series Win in Sacramento – In these last two games, the team is doing things they’ve struggled to do in their previous 10 games. They’re linking at-bats, executing what the at-bat calls for, pushing the pedal to the metal, and they aren’t missing opportunities. In the series finale, they finished the day 5-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Eight of the nine starters in the lineup reached base via a hit or walk in the game… The D-backs snapped a six-game losing streak in a 7-2 win on Saturday, behind another Zac Gallen quality start and some timely hits from the lineup. They had scored eight runs in their previous seven games. “It just felt different in the clubhouse this morning,” third baseman Blaze Alexander told DbacksTV reporter Todd Walsh. “We were playing some music, the vibes were good, good breakfast, just really good vibes. We got a losing streak off our back, now it’s time for a win streak.”
[SI] The Diamondbacks Won a Series and Looked Good Doing It – The D-backs bullpen shouldered a somewhat heavy load this weekend, throwing 12.2 innings. They combined to allow just three runs on nine hits, three walks, and eight strikeouts. The lone homer was a solo shot given up by Kyle Nelson, who had a three-run cushion in game three, and nailed down the save anyway. The workload was spread around. Nelson, Andrew Saalfrank, Kendall Graveman and John Curtiss each worked twice. Jake Woodford threw 2.1 innings of long relief in game one. Jalen Beeks and Kevin Ginkel each worked only once in the series. Somehow, Torey Lovullo has been piecing together decent production from this bullpen of late. He’ll have to continue to do so, as Shelby Miller was traded to the Brewers July 31.
[Dbacks.com] Locklear ‘welcomed with open arms’, embracing new role with D-backs – Locklear wasn’t expecting to be traded, but shrugged his shoulders when the deal went down. In his short time in the Majors, the 24-year-old has learned clearly that baseball is a business before anything else. As a player or manager, you are part of that business and subject to being traded at the drop of a dime. So when the Diamondbacks made the deal to acquire him, Locklear was not surprised in the least. “Just part of it, honestly,” he said. “Thankfully I was able to come into a locker room like this, be welcomed with open arms, so it was really cool.”
Minor league report
It was as pretty awful day on the farm, with an 0-4 performance.
Las Vegas 16, Reno 6
The Aces actually led in this one. Unfortunately it was short lived. Seth Brown and Ivan Melendez doubled in the first, and Tommy Troy drove in two with a double in his first AAA at bat in the second. But it was a 4-4 tie, and the Aces stranded the bases loaded in the third, and it all fell apart from there.
The Bryce Jarvis starting experiment (version 2.0) may be reaching another inauspicious end. For he failed to get out of the third inning and allowed nine runs on ten hits, including four home runs. That’s not what you want to see from a pitcher who has been declared the next man up for the rotation. Trevor Richards allowed three runs, but all of them in the last inning of a long outing. Brandyn Garcia allowed a solo home run, Juan Burgos allowed two runs on three hits, and Albert Almora Jr. allowed a run on two hits. All told, the pitching allowed 19 hits, six of which were home runs, and another six of which were doubles or triples.
That negated some offensive highlights. Anyone watching Kristian Robinson could tell you that he could hit the ball incredibly hard, but he showed it with his first home run, which traveled 424 feet to right-center, left the bat at 104.7 MPH, and wasn’t his hardest hit ball of the night. Six of his 15 batted balls in AAA have been over 100 MPH. Tommy Troy doubled twice in his debut and added a walk. Ivan Melendez doubled and singled. Gavin Logan picked up two more hits.
Wichita 16, Amarillo 8
But however disappointing the result in Reno might have been, events at Hodgetown were doubly so. For the Sod Poodles Calf Fries led by multiple runs going into the bottom of the ninth, and still wound up losing by what appears to be a blowout.
The home side build a 6-4 lead through five innings behind three home runs. Jose Fernandez started the scoring with a solo shot for his 12th, Manuel Pena collected his 12th in the following inning to tie things 3-3. Ben McLaughlin hit the first of his AA career to re-tie things at four in the fourth, and Jack Hurley, Ryan Waldschmidt, and LuJames Groover each collected hits in the fifth to make it 6-4. Single runs in the sixth and seventh (both charged to Casey Anderson) tied things up again. But the fifth home run from Caleb Roberts was the lone two-run shot and made things 8-6 after eight innings.
Zane Russell came on to pitch the ninth and things did not go well. To the tune of five batters faced, three hits, two walks, and a wild pitch. He was pulled for Dan Kubiuk with things 9-8. Kubiuk got a groundout that made it 10-8, before a double made it 11-8. A pop-out left hope that things could be kept within a reasonable distance, but four more hits (the last of which was a home run) put things in the realm of mostly out of reach, even for Hodgetown. The Soddies went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.
Spokane 2, Hillsboro 1, 10 innings
A tight game ended in ignominious fashion when Carlos Rey fielded a sacrifice bunt attempt and threw the ball into right field, allowing Ye Olde Zombie Caleb Hobson to score.
Hobson had also scored the first Indians’ run on a sacrifice fly all the way back in the first inning. In between eight scoreless innings with ten strikeouts were provided by the combination of Junior Sanchez, Victor Morales, Rocco Reid, and Sam Knowlton.
The Hops tied things up in the seventh as Angel Ortiz led off with a double and reached third on a fielder’s choice and error, as Druw Jones hit a ground ball to short, but third baseman Blake Wright failed to hold the throw. Modeifi Marte drove him home with a sacrifice fly.
In addition to Ortiz’s double, Slade Caldwell, Jones, and Adrian De Leon all had singles.
Modesto 8, Visalia 4
Logan Mercado and Alvin Guzman had poor outings and the offense couldn’t keep up despite a great day from Carlos Virahonda and support from Trent Youngblood, Yassel Soler, Yerald Nin, and Alexander Benua. Ultimately, it was trouble with runners in scoring position; they went just 2-for-14 in that situation and left 12 on base.
Leadoff batter Austin St. Laurent gave the nuts a lead, but the Rawhide instantly responded, as Youngblood singled and stole his 20th base of the season. Carlos Virahonda rendered the stolen base unimportant with his second home run. Virahonda also drove in the third run of the game, as Nin walked, stole his 26th base, advanced to third on a groundout by Youngblood, and scored on a groundout by Virahonda. Virahonda scored the fourth run after a ninth inning single.
Grayson Hitt was the pick of the pitchers, striking out three in the ninth after hitting the first batter.
And, elsewhere…
[Awful Announcing] Speedway Classic rain delay turns into a disaster: ‘MLB version of Fyre Fest’ – MLB’s worst nightmare transpired as the Speedway Classic was marred by a torrential rainstorm. After doing everything they could to play the game in monsoon level conditions, MLB finally made the decision to postpone the game until Sunday afternoon. Even the Fox broadcast was unaware that the game had finally been called for the night. But that was only part of the story. Fans in attendance flooded social media with reports that the experience at the speedway was the MLB equivalent of a multi-car pile up. Empty concessions, endless lines, terrible seats, and many more complaints began to surface as the evening rolled on.
[MLB] Only team with an all-time winning record against the Yankees? The Marlins! – With Sunday’s sweep-clinching 7-3 victory over the Yanks, the Marlins are 25-24 all-time versus New York, postseason included. That makes Miami the only MLB team with a winning record against baseball’s 27-time world champions… The Marlins’ win on Sunday also got them back to .500 at 55-55. It’s been quite a rapid climb for Miami, which was 16 games under .500 as recently as June 11. The Marlins are now the first team since the 2014 Rays to reach .500 after being at least 16 games under. Only five teams have accomplished that in the Wild Card Era (since 1995), including the 2006 Marlins.