Record: 12-12-1. Change on 2025: -1. 5-inning Record: 8-15-2.
Arizona stretched their unbeaten streak to five games with an emphatic victory over the Cubs at Salt River Fields. It looked unlikely, considering the D-backs were 5-1 down in the middle of the third. But scoring fifteen unanswered runs is never a bad thing. A six-run third was followed by a seven-run fourth, Arizona pounding out seventeen hits and five walks. Jordan Lawlar reached base three times on a hit and two walks, while there were two-hit days for Geraldo Perdomo, Carlos Santana and Jorge Barrosa. Good to see Corbin Carroll hitting his first post-hamate home-run. Alek Thomas (top, with Carroll) and Barrosa also went deep, and the team were 7-for-13 with RISP.
Given all of the above, what the pitchers did was almost irrelevant. Merrill Kelly’s second appearance was an improvement on his first: he went 2.2 innings, allowing five hits and two runs, with no walks or K’s. Joe Ross somehow got the W, despite an ugly outing which included allowing a grand-slam. But Juan Morillo struck out three of the four batters he faced, and there was a clean inning from Paul Sewald too. Kade Stroud’s rough spring continued in the eighth, because he allowed as many home-runs as he recorded outs (two of each). But all told, a pretty satisfactory day for the Diamondbacks.
Tomorrow, it’s over to Camelback Ranch for an evening game against the other residents of Chicago, the White Sox. 6:05 pm first pitch there, with Michael Soroka making his first start since coming back from the World Baseball Classic as part of Team Canada.
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