The Diamondbacks continued to struggle offensively; they ran their streak of games where they scored four runs or less to fifteen, tying the franchise record, before breaking out on Friday night and scoring a whole…five. The basic theme was thus the same as the previous week, with the Diamondbacks living or dying on the performance of their starting pitching. They were 2-4 for the week, ending it in third-place, 3.5 games back of the Dodgers in the National League West.
AZ 4, Astros 10 Arizona took the lead in the first on a two-run double by Tony Clark, but the game was all but decided when Houston scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth, blowing open a game that had been tied at three. Scott’s three-run homer was the crucial blow, sending Livan Hernandez to the showers after allowing eleven hits and eight earned runs in only four innings. The bullpen was forced into action, and did decently, save Brandon Medders who allowed two homers in an inning. More on him later.
Chris Young had two runs in the lead-off spot, and added a walk; Stephen Drew also had a pair of knocks. Chad Tracy reached base safely twice, but had to be removed from the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, due to a flare up of the rib/shoulder muscle problem that had been bothering him for some time. Veteran Donnie Sadler made his first appearance in the majors since June 2, 2004 in the ninth inning, flying out to center.
AZ 2, Astros 5 Doug Davis took the loss, being forced to the showers with one out in the fifth. He threw 25 pitches in the first then, after a 1-2-3 second, added 29 more in the third and 30 in the fourth, leading in large part to the early exit. Micah Owings made his first relief appearance – his spot in the rotation was being skipped, because of Monday’s off-day – and allowed one run in 1.2 innings. Lyon and Valverde got some work in the late innings.
However, the offense sputtered again, with only six hits and two walks in the game. The Diamondbacks’ two runs game on solo homers by Hairston and Hudson. The other time we had any runners past first base was in the third, when we loaded the bases on a single by Young and walks to Conor Jackson and Orlando Hudson [our only two free passes of the day]. But Byrnes grounded out to end the threat. Hairston had another hit in addition to his homer, making the most of a rare start in left-field.
AZ 3, Rockies 0 After the disaster of Johnson’s last start, where a 3-0 lead became a 4-3 deficit one pitch after he left the game, Melvin took no chances, pulling the multi-Cy Young winner after only 79 pitches. That was enough for a brilliant six innings by the Big Unit, allowing only a bunt single and striking out nine Rockies while walking none. [Thus far, he has pitched 30 innings, with only seven walks and 37 K's] This time, the bullpen held firm, with Pena pitching two scoreless innings, and Valverde nailing down the save.
Meanwhile, the hitters struggle yet again, with only seven hits and no walks, but the three runs scored proved enough this time. They all came on two homers, a two-run shot by Jackson in the sixth, and Eric Byrnes‘s sixth of the year an inning later. Young and Jackson had a pair of hits each at the top of the order, but there wasn’t much patience shown by our batters. Tracy, Byrnes, Drew and Quentin, hitting 4-7 in the order had 13 at-bats which lasted a total of only 37 pitches.
AZ 3, Rockies 5 Brandon Webb‘s problems pitching against Colorado continued: in three starts against them, his ERA is 7.00; against everyone else, it’s 2.20. His record against the Rockies fell to 0-2 as he allowed six hits and two walks in six innings of work, leading to five runs, four earned. Brad Hawpe was Webb’s personal nemesis, homering twice and driving in four of the Rockies’ five runs, with the key at-bat coming in the sixth, where his three-run shot gave Colorado the lead for good.
Arizona had tied the game up in the top of the fifth: Mark Reynolds had been called up from Double-A to take the spot of Chad Tracy, forced to the DL because of the muscle strain mentioned earlier. In his second at-bat, he drove the ball to deep center, plating two runs, and later became the first player in franchise history to have a multi-hit, multi-RBI game on his major-league debut for the Diamondbacks. Eric Byrnes added two hits, but bright spots were few and far between. Scott Hairston was forced out of the game early, after being hit on the wrist by a pitch.
AZ 3, Rockies 1 At least we’re consistent. Every game in this series, Arizona scored three runs – and, indeed, we’ve scored between two and four runs for thirteen straight games. The rule has been simple in that time: if we keep the other team to three runs or less, we win; let them score four or more, and we lose. This time, it was Livan Hernandez who weaved his web, bouncing back with seven innings of baffling slow-pitch baseball. He allowed four hits and four walks, but only one run as he added another quality start to his collection.
Arizona took the lead in the first on an RBI single by Byrnes, and an error in the third allowed Hernandez (who had two hits to help his own cause) to scamper home. After the Rockies pulled to within one, Tony Clark added a pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth to give Valverde a bit of room to play with, which is always a good thing. Young and Byrnes joined Hernandez in the two-hit club, and in a rare event this month, the Diamondbacks managed more walks (five) than strikeouts (four).
AZ 5, Pirates 11 At least the bats showed up a little for this one, with Arizona scoring as many runs in the sixth, as they’d managed in any game in May up to that point. However, it wasn’t enough, as the pitching staff gave up eleven runs, tying the season high there. Doug Davis was a little unlucky, with the Pirates staff finding every gap imaginable, but no start where you allow ten hits and three walks in less than five innings can ever be regarded as satisfactory.
It was nice to see a little bit of offense: up until that sixth inning, the most we’d scored in any May frame was only two runs. Four players had RBIs, and despite starting off the inning seven runs down, we got the tying run to the plate, in the shape of Robbie Hammock. He even had a hit, but Quentin was thrown out at home trying to score from second. Drew had a pair of hits, but Tony Peña allowed a three-run homer in the eighth to make the final score look about as lop-sided as this one probably was.
News and Notes
Soaring Eric Byrnes (8-for-25), Chris Young (8-for-22), Randy Johnson (6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 9 K), Juan Cruz (4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 5 K). Falling Orlando Hudson (3-for-22), Carlos Quentin (1-for-15), Doug Davis (9 IP, 16 H, 7 BB, 10 ER), Brandon Medders (2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER).
Death by Home-Run Despite having only pitched 17.2 innings, just four NL pitchers have more home-runs than Brandon Medders. The eight long-balls he has served up are already more than in the previous two seasons combined, when he threw a total of 102 innings.
Injury Report Chad Tracy was forced onto the DL by a problem in his rib-cage muscle. He’s expected to spend at least a week recovering, with a rehab assignment likely. Jeff DaVanon (shoulder) was moved to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster for Tracy’s replacement, Mark Reynolds. Scott Hairston and Chris Young are both day-to-day with wrist and groin injuries respectively.
L’affair Callaspo Various reports emerged over the past week, which seem to indicate a turbulent relationship between Diamondbacks’ infielder, Alberto Callaspo, and his wife. Of course, it’s almost impossible to sort out the truth in these allegations, but the team has bitten the bullet and brought Callaspo back onto the roster. Club president Derrick Hall said, “We collected the pertinent information and offered Alberto the services of a counselor. The expert met with Alberto yesterday and found the player fit for work but recommended he undergo counseling. Alberto and the Club have agreed to the recommended counseling.” We’ll see how that plays out…
The Week Ahead While the rest of the league plays against the AL, the D-backs will finish off their set in Pittsburgh. They then come back to Arizona for three against the Rockies – bet you Brandon Webb is not looking forward to that! – and then the Astros will visit Phoenix for the return series next weekend.
