I have a confession. I have not watched an Arizona Diamondbacks game in its entirety since April 20th, the last time I wrote a recap of a game for the ‘Pit. I actually haven’t watched any MLB game in its entirety until this game. I have always been just fine using box scores and watching the highlight reels MLB posts on YouTube for each game. As far as sitting down and watching every single game in a 162 game season goes, my feelings are best summed up in the words of Kimberly “Sweet Brown” Wilkins,
“Ain’t nobody got time for that!”
The Diamondbacks have a bad habit of disappointing me when they’re playing a game that I am covering, so when I found out Zac Gallen was starting this game, I was expecting to be disappointed. If not that, I expected the offense to not show up and the bullpen to blow it. Instead I was pleasantly surprised. Zac Gallen dominated the San Francisco Giants in his six innings of work, giving up just a walk to Matt Chapman and a pair of hits to Casey Schmitt, who hit a two out solo homer in the third to tie the game at 1-1
Geraldo Perdomo continued his MVP candidate campaign, reaching base in all five of his plate appearances by going 3-3 with a double and a triple, along with a pair of walks. Perdomo scored the first run of the game after drawing a lead off walk, advancing to second after Ketel Marte was hit by a pitch, then advanced to third on a passed ball by Giant Catcher Patrick Bailey, finally scoring on throwing error by Giants pitcher Kai-Wei Teng.
After stranding a baserunner in each of the proceeding innings after the game was tied, the Dbacks offense finally blew the game wide open in the bottom of the sixth inning, when they batted around the lineup, scoring six runs. Corbin Carroll hit a line drive double to center to lead off. Giants Manager Bob Melvin would come in and swap reliever Matt Gage for Joel Peguero, who would walk Gabriel Moreno and Blaze Alexander to load the bases.
Ildemaro Vargas then singled to right, scoring Carroll and Moreno and advancing Blaze to third, but was himself caught in a rundown for the first out of the inning. Bob Melvin swapped Peguero for Joey Lucchesi, with Dbacks Manager Torey Lovullo responding by having Jordan Lawlar pinch hit for Alek Thomas. Lawlar proceeded to hit a double that just barely missed leaving the ballpark, scoring Alexander. James McCann followed that up with a home run to left scoring himself and Lawlar to make it 6-1.
Jake McCarthy reached on a throwing error by second baseman Casey Schmidt that kept the inning going even longer. Geraldo Perdomo tripled to center, scoring McCarthy to make it 7-1. The D’Backs, fittingly scored their eighth run of the game in the 8th inning, and unsurprisingly off the bat of Geraldo Perdomo. Jake McCarthy hit a two out, linedrive double to left to keep the inning going for Perdomo. ‘Domo hit a double scoring McCarthy making it 8-1 and reaching base for the fifth consecutive time in the game.
Finally, the D’Backs bullpen didn’t disappoint me and blow the game. Taylor Rashi was solid in his two innings of work, giving up just a walk while striking out three. Jalen Beeks pitched an uneventful 1-2-3 ninth, striking out Wiley Adames, getting Rafael Devers to groundout to Perdomo at short, and finally, Matt Chapman to popout to Ketel Marte at second to end the game.
- Titan: Geraldo Perdomo, +32.9%
- Behemoth: Zac Gallen, +24.8%
- Giant: Blaze Alexander, -5.2%
It was a chill GDT, especially after the big inning. Comment of the Game to Ron:
Tomorrow, Arizona can clinch the all-important season series against San Francisco with another win. Eduardo Rodriguez will try to make it happen, with a 6:40 pm first pitch. See you there!
