Snakes alive.
The Arizona Diamondbacks, who seemingly have been on the verge of elimination from the National League wild-card hunt for a week, haven’t been killed yet.
Their 11-4 road win Friday night against the San Diego Padres, teamed with Philadelphia’s 2-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, brought them within a game of the struggling Phillies with two games left. They’ll try to keep their playoff hopes alive in San Diego on Saturday night.
Should the Phillies and Diamondbacks wind up in a tie, Arizona holds the tiebreaker.
Arizona (86-74) has won six straight games, fueled by relentless offense and just enough pitching. It’s averaging eight runs per game in that span and has been especially dangerous early in games.
The Diamondbacks have scored 16 runs in the first inning of the past four games, including three on Friday night. They scored in six of the first seven innings on Friday night. Arizona could have scored in eight of nine, but San Diego center fielder Jase Bowen robbed possible homers in the eighth and ninth.
Now that the Diamondbacks have made it to Game 161 of 162 with a chance to advance, the question is who pitches? Corbin Burnes, listed as the starter prior to the series, landed on the injured list Friday with shoulder inflammation. He’d allowed nine runs over 7 1/3 innings in his previous two starts.
“It was building over the last five days when he was trying to throw a bullpen, go through a throwing program,” said manager Torey Lovullo of Burnes’ injury. “It just wasn’t working and he couldn’t figure out why.”
Arizona is expected to go with a bullpen game, with Jose Cabrera (0-3, 4.33 ERA) a possibility to get bulk innings or even start. Ryne Nelson and Zac Gallen were mentioned as candidates before Friday’s game but both closed out Brandon Pfaadt’s third win over the Padres.
Catcher Gabriel Moreno (left hamstring) left Friday’s game early but is expected to serve as the designated hitter on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, San Diego (89-71) also won despite losing. With the Chicago Cubs being swept in Boston and the Phillies’ shutout loss, the Padres need just one win in the last two games to earn home-field advantage for the NL wild-card round.
San Diego manager Craig Stammen said that Friday’s loss doesn’t make his decisions for the rest of the weekend any more complicated.
“We have to go out and play a baseball game,” he said. “Getting blown out, we were able to get some of these guys off their feet a little bit. I would anticipate getting those guys back in the lineup tomorrow.”
Stammen cleared the bench when his team trailed 10-2 after six innings, giving mainstays such as Jackson Merrill, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Xander Bogaerts the final three innings off.
The Padres will turn to Walker Buehler (9-6, 4.56) on Saturday. He enjoyed one of his best outings of the year Sunday in a 7-3 win over Miami, lasting 6 2/3 innings and allowing three runs off three hits and two walks with six strikeouts.
Buehler is 7-1 with a 2.57 ERA in 16 career outings (15 starts) against Arizona, with the one loss coming on July 6. That day, he allowed seven runs on seven hits in five innings in an 8-0 loss.
–Field Level Media
