Record: 36-35. Pace: 82-80. Change on 2024: +2.
It’s much easier to be sanguine about a loss when you’ve already won the series and had a sweep immediately preceding that win, and I suspect that my morning yin yoga and afternoon spiked iced coffee didn’t hurt. Not the result we would have hoped for this Father’s Day, but we have done worse, and the videos with the little Dback Juniors were pretty adorable.
The first three innings were resolutely uneventful, with Merrill Kelly on the mound for us and Nick Pivetta on the mound for the Padres. Even with Kelly dealing with some traffic on the bases, he managed to strand several Mad Monks, while Pivetta, previously of the Phillies and Red Sox, was steadfastly doing his job against the Snakes. Alas, the wheels started to come off the Dbacks’ bus in the fourth, with Kelly walking Gavin Sheets (who was cut loose from the White Sox, because clearly, he was their biggest problem), Xander Bogaerts doubling to bring Sheets home, and Jake Cronenworth hitting a home run to bring the score to 3-0 PADRES. Alas, our half of the fourth was a 1-2-3, with Corbin Carroll striking out and Ketel Marte and Geraldo Perdomo popping out.
The Padres were similarly pesky in the top of the fifth, with Fernando Tatis Jr. singling and Luis Arraez doubling to bring home Tatis (4-0 PADRES). Unfortunately, Kelly, who had initially been kind of nails, was missing the strike zone more often than not, although he did manage to strike out Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts, with Gavin Sheets grounding out. Fortunately, our half of the fifth was rather more successful than the previous innings, beginning with a Josh Naylor walk and immediately followed by a Geno Suarez home run, bringing the score to 4-2 PADRES. Unfortunately, that was all the damage we could do in that inning, and in the rest of the game, really, but I get ahead of myself.
The top of the sixth saw Tayler Scott in for Merrill Kelly, and despite, IMO, not being quite ready for prime time, he managed to turn in a 1-2-3. The seventh saw Scott’s abilities, such that they currently are, begin to fray at the edges, with a double from Elias Diaz and a subsequent double from Fernando Tatis Jr. that made the score 5-2 PADRES. Although Manny Machado grounded out, this did not fail to bring Tatis home, thus notching the score to 6-2 PADRES. Much consternation was afloat when Perdomo rolled over on his wrist in an attempt to deflect a single from Gavin Sheets, but ultimately, Gerry was okay and able to soldier on. As Dano pointed out, Gerry could have a bone sticking out of his arm and insist he could still play; fortunately, there were no protruding bones, and apologies for that grisly image. Anthony DeSclafani, late of the San Francisco Giants, came in to finish out the inning, and did so on one pitch, with Bogaerts lining out to Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
Little activity of note in our half of the seventh and throughout the eighth, although Adrian Morejon replaced Nick Pivetta on the mound and Tim Tawa and Randal Grichuk were at the plate for the Dbacks. DeSclafani’s wheels began to roll off in the ninth, with Elias Diaz kicking off the top of that inning with a homer and Tatis doubling on a grounder to Grichuk. A subsequent single from Machado brought home Tatis, bringing the score to 8-2 PADRES. Try as we might (or not), the Snakes were unable to recapture the miracle that was last night’s bottom of the ninth, with Marte, Perdomo, and Naylor falling in rapid succession to Morejon’s replacement, Sean Reynolds. Minor bummer, but what are you gonna do.
8-2 PADRES FINAL
CotG is split between two Snakepitters this time, with one comment highlighting how freaked out we all were/are at the prospect of a team without Geraldo Perdomo, and the other a bit of much-needed levity.
BELLS AND WHISTLES, COURTESY OF JIM:
[Click to enlarge, in new window]
ATTICUS FINCH: Eugenio Suarez, +9.3%
ERIC CAMDEN (the preacher on “7th Heaven,” who spies on his kids and disowns them for having premarital adult relations): Merrill Kelly: -17.3%
Join us Tuesday at 4:07 pm AZ time, when Brandon Pfaadt faces off against one Chris Bassitt in Toronto, eh. Here’s hoping you and the Dbacks can spend your baseball-bereft Monday with some yin yoga, spiked iced coffee, pit barbecue, or a big ol’ heap of nothing, whatever your heart desires.
As always, thanks for watching/reading, and, as always, go Dbacks