Sedona Red Recap: Godley tosses eight innings to help D-backs blank Rockies
Sep 14, 2017, 4:56 PM
Arizona Diamondbacks' Zack Godley throws a pitch against the Colorado Rockies during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
PHOENIX — It’s looking more and more like the Arizona Diamondbacks will be playing on Oct. 4. And if they keep this up, there’s a decent chance they’ll even be hosting the do-or-die playoff game that day.
Zack Godley tossed eight scoreless innings, and J.D. Martinez homered yet again as the D-backs knocked off the Colorado Rockies 7-0 in front of 20,317 fans at Chase Field on Thursday. In the process, they extended their Wild Card lead over Colorado to five games.
For Godley, the eight-inning performance marks the deepest he’s ever gone in an MLB start. And he made the most of it, striking out seven Rockies along the way. He’s now 3-0 in his last four outings
The win salvages a split of the four-game series for Arizona, after Colorado took the first two games on Monday and Tuesday. It also means Torey Lovullo’s group has now picked up back-to-back victories, after they stumbled through a five-game stretch from Friday to Tuesday that saw them go 1-4 against the Padres and Rockies. Even with that rough patch though, the D-backs are now 18-5 since Aug. 20.
Thursday’s outing marked the final showdown between the Diamondbacks and Rockies this season – unless they happen to meet again on Oct. 4. And, for now at least, they seem to be on a collision course to do exactly that as Colorado hangs onto a 2.5-game lead over the Brewers and Cardinals for the final Wild Card spot.
THE GOOD
– Arizona wasted no time getting the bats going in this one, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the first.
– Godley worked his way out of a jam in the top of the second, getting Ian Desmond to ground into a double play to end the inning. He pretty much cruised from that point on.
– Paul Goldschmidt made a nice play to dig out a throw at first from Ketel Marte and completed a double play on Desmond in the fifth inning.
– In all, Godley got the Rockies to hit into three double plays.
– Martinez now has 23 homers as a member of the D-backs and 39 overall this season — good for a new career high.
– He has also reached base safely in 18 consecutive games.
– One day after driving in four runs, A.J. Pollock picked up another four RBI. That gives him 44 for the season, and eight in the last 24 hours.
– Arizona is 7-2 in the last nine meetings with Colorado, and 11-8 against the Rockies overall in 2017.
THE BAD
– Not much went wrong for the D-backs in this one. Marte went 0-for-4 at the plate.
STAT OF THE GAME
76: The number of home runs J.D. Martinez would hit over the course of 162 games, if for a full season he hit them at the rate he’s been hitting them since joining the Diamondbacks in July (23 homers in 49 contests). He’d also be on pace for 162 RBI.
HE SAID IT
“I was trying to grab my helmet and my stuff, and get to the on-deck circle before [Lovullo] could say anything to me. So, hopefully, he’d just be like, ‘alright, he’s going to go’. But it just didn’t happen — he caught me before I could even get to the steps.” – Zack Godley, on trying to sneak past Lovullo so he could bat in the eighth and subsequently go for the complete game in the ninth.
NOTED
– The team will be giving away 10,000 t-shirts commemorating Martinez’s four-homer game from earlier this month when they host the Miami Marlins on Sept. 23.
UP NEXT
The Diamondbacks will travel to San Francisco to begin a three-game series with the Giants on Friday. First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 6:30 on 98.7 FM, Arizona’s Sports Station.
Robbie Ray (13-5, 2.81) will take the mound for Arizona looking for his fifth straight win. Over his last four starts, he’s 4-0 with a 1.42 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 25.1 innings.
A win on Friday would give Ray 14 on the year despite the fact that he missed most of August with an injury. In six career starts against San Francisco, he’s 2-0 with a 3.15 ERA.
The Giants will counter with Jeff Samardzija (9-13, 4.47). The big righty picked up a loss in his last outing, getting touched up by the White Sox for six runs over 5.2 innings on Sept. 9. He also surrendered four home runs in that contest.
In three starts against the D-backs this season, Samardzija is 1-2 with a 5.89 ERA. For his career, he’s 3-3 against Arizona with a 4.43 ERA over 15 appearances.
