Jordan HammThe Arizona Diamondbacks are on the right side of another series outcome, winning a three-game series against the world champion Houston Astros this weekend. The Diamondbacks were able to take the last two games of the series after losing three straight games.
Friday May 4th – Astros won 8-0
Saturday May 5th – Diamondbacks won 4-3
Sunday May 6th – Diamondbacks won 3-1
A.J. Pollock
The calendar has turned, but National League Player of the Month A.J. Pollock (his official title now) hasn’t slowed down. Against the Astros, he went 3/10 with a run scored and five RBIs. On Sunday’s game, he drove in all three runs and was in the middle of an interesting play. Take a look:
A.J. comes through again. This time with a game-tying triple and then he come home on an obstruction call to conclude a wild play. The @Dbacks lead 2-1 in the 6th. pic.twitter.com/nt2h7IVX75
— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) May 6, 2018
Paul Goldschmidt Struggles
After going on a hot streak in late April, Paul Goldschmidt has struggled lately, not getting a hit in the Astros series and going 1/25 in the last two series.. His average now sits at .225.
Matt Koch
Much like Zack Godley last year, Matt Koch was a call-up roughly a month into the season after an established starter was injured. His performance is similarly to Godley’s last year as well. After beating Clayton Kershaw earlier this week, Koch beat Justin Verlander in the series finale. Koch becomes the first pitcher to win consecutive starts against MVPs in 71 years.
Koch’s line was as follows:
6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 3 K on 77 pitches
Starter for Ray?
The Diamondbacks won’t have to address this until they are back in Chase Field against the Nationals, but they will need to have a starter in place for Thursday’s game for the injured Robbie Ray. Kris Medlen started in place for Ray on Friday and gave up seven runs in five innings. There are minor league options including Braden Shipley and Taylor Clarke, as well as long reliever T.J. McFarland.
https://www.sports360az.com/2018/05/t-j-mcfarland-bullpen-saver/
Yoshi Hirano
Yoshi Hirano struggled on Saturday, giving up two earned runs and the lead in the eighth inning. The club was able to bounce back and win the game. On Sunday, Hirano bounced back and came into the ball game with two runners on – the first time he has come in for the Diamondbacks with runners on – and struck out Evan Gattis and got George Springer to fly out.
“Yesterday, he got hit around a little bit and lost the lead,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “You want to see things like that getting to know Yoshi, you want to see how he comes back after a tough day. All indications was he would be fine and he came in and got some big outs.”
After an off-day on Monday, the Diamondbacks take a very short road trip to Los Angeles for a two-game set against the Dodgers. Zack Godley and Patrick Corbin will pitch against Rich Hill and Alex Wood.
