D-backs build off strong offensive night with another in 2nd straight win
Sep 16, 2020, 10:24 PM
Arizona Diamondbacks' David Peralta, left, celebrates his solo home run with Kole Calhoun during the seventh inning of the team's baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
For only the second time this season, the Arizona Diamondbacks have scored more than five runs in two straight games.
And while they won both Tuesday’s 9-8 final and Wednesday’s game by a score of 9-6, it wasn’t the most conventional route to get there.
Tuesday’s victory included starter Madison Bumgarner giving up eight earned runs, but Wednesday’s D-backs starter wasn’t involved that much at all.
Caleb Smith, making his second outing of the year for Arizona, went only 2.0 innings as he continues to ramp up after coming off the 45-day injured list. The Angels got him to 61 pitches, amounting to two runs, three hits and two walks off Smith getting those six outs.
That brought Taylor Clarke in for five innings of relief, and he allowed four earned runs, all of which came in his last three innings.
Luckily for the D-backs, that was all the Los Angeles offense had in them.
Arizona got two RBIs each from Nick Ahmed, Kole Calhoun and David Peralta. Calhoun homered for the third time in the last two games, making it 12 total on the year.
The D-backs jumped out to a 4-0 advantage in the second inning, and had a 6-2 cushion through three innings. Three more runs in the seventh meant it should have been smooth sailing at a 9-4 lead, but the two additional runs off Clarke followed and made the margin for error a bit smaller on the rest of the bullpen.
They made it easy enough, though, as Junior Guerra had a scoreless eighth, and ditto for Stefan Crichton in the ninth, picking up his third save of the season.
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