D-backs left fielder Mark Trumbo provides the pop in season-opening series
Mar 23, 2014, 4:36 PM | Updated: Mar 24, 2014, 5:55 pm
In three total games down under, the Arizona Diamondbacks offense mustered up a grand total of six runs.
Of those six runs, four came in the final inning of their 27 total played at Sydney Cricket Ground over the weekend.
The ultimately result was a trio of losses, including an exhibition match to Team Australia and a pair of regular season contests to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Though early, it was a troubling sign to say the least.
Then again, there was at least one silver lining beneath Arizona’s woes at the plate. Better yet, one big silver lining.
The bat of Mark Trumbo.
Brought over in December in the three-team deal that sent Tyler Skaggs to the Los Angeles Angels and Adam Eaton to the Chicago White Sox, Trumbo served as more than lineup protection for first baseman Paul Goldschmidt in the season-opening series. In fact, he was the perfect complement.
While the 2013 National MVP runner-up extended his hitting streak to 20 and 21 games with a pair of two-hit performances, Goldschmidt was actually overshadowed by what Trumbo was able to do at the dish.
Of the D-backs’ six runs scored, Trumbo drove in four of them.
In Sunday’s 7-5 loss, Trumbo got Arizona on the board in the eighth inning with a hard single to right field that plated Martin Prado.
And with the D-backs down to their final out one inning later, he did even more damage, crushing the first offering he saw from Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen over the left field wall for a two-run blast — his first with Arizona.
For the series, Trumbo went 2-for-9 with four RBI and one run scored.