D-backs’ franchise-record shutout streak comes to an end
Jun 29, 2013, 4:09 AM | Updated: 1:48 pm
The Arizona Diamondbacks suffered their 37th loss of the season at the hands of the Atlanta Braves Friday night, but the 3-0 defeat was unlike any other in 2013.
It was unique, in that for the first time in 79 games, the D-backs were held off the scoreboard — the longest streak in franchise history to begin a year.
Before Friday night’s streak-busting loss, the D-backs were the lone MLB team not to be blanked this season. In fact, every other club has been shut out at least three times in 2013.
When asked if it was meaningful that the D-backs were the last team to be shut out, manager Kirk Gibson was rather blunt.
“Not really,” Gibson said. “It’s characteristic of the way we play, but beyond that we lost tonight, whether we need zero runs or four. It didn’t work.”
It might not have worked Friday night against Julio Teheran (six scoreless innings of work) and the Braves at Turner Field, but the D-backs found a way for the better part of the first half of 2013 to keep the streak alive.
Arizona has scored exactly one run in 13 games this season and 10 different times needed runs in the eighth or ninth inning to avoid being shut out.
“It’s going to happen, it’s baseball,” said Gibson of the streak finally ending. “It’s not odd at all [we weren’t able to chip away]. It’s probably odder we’ve scored in all of these games.”
Before Friday night’s 3-0 loss, the D-backs hadn’t been blanked since September 26, 2012 against the San Francisco Giants.
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