Sedona Red Recap: Chacin goes seven strong, but Diamondbacks fail to cash in
Aug 29, 2015, 9:27 PM
Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Aaron Hill tags out Oakland Athletics Billy Burns (1) trying to steal second base in the third inning during a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Baseball can be a weird game sometimes.
One night after navigating their way to victory against one of the top arms in all of baseball, the Arizona Diamondbacks struggled just to push runs across the plate against a guy making just his fifth major league start.
Oakland’s Aaron Brooks wasn’t necessarily spectacular on Saturday night, but he was good enough to help the Athletics defeat Arizona 3-2 in front of 35,990 fans at Chase Field. The loss is the D-backs’ fifth in their last six tries.
Much like Friday night, Arizona fell behind early. Danny Valencia led off the second inning with a double before Stephen Vogt promptly brought him home with a two-run blast to right. The Diamondbacks rallied though — also similar to Friday’s game — when Nick Ahmed led off the fifth with a double, and Ender Inciarte and A.J. Pollock followed with back-to-back singles. When the dust had settled, the score was even at two apiece.
Jhoulys Chacin, making just his second start of the season, gave D-backs manager Chip Hale exactly what he’s been looking for from his starters lately. He went a solid seven innings, allowing just the two earned runs. Unfortunately for Arizona, Oakland was able to scrape together one more run off the bullpen in the eighth. That proved to be the difference.
THE GOOD
– Inciarte delivered three more hits, lifting his average to .301 on the season. He’s hitting .366 (15-for-41) in his last 12 games.
– Chacin really only made one “mistake” all night, leaving the pitch up to Vogt. He’s been pretty steady in both of his starts.
– The top of the lineup did its job tonight, as Inciarte and Pollock combined to reach base six times (five singles and a walk).
THE BAD
– Vogt’s game-winning RBI wasn’t hit all that hard. It landed softly just outside the infield dirt in very shallow left field but, with two outs and the runners moving, Mark Canha was able to score from second to give the A’s a 3-2 lead they’d never relinquish.
– Paul Goldschmidt has been great all season, and particularly on fire of late. He had a frustrating night at the plate in this one, however, twice striking out looking and also grounding into a double play.
STAT OF THE GAME
0: The number of stolen bases for the D-backs on this homestand so far. They entered play on Saturday as the No. 2 team in MLB (behind Cincinnati) with 110 steals on the season.
HE SAID IT
“It’s just been a tough homestand, all the way around. I mean, we’ve felt like our at-bats were pretty good and our approach has been pretty good and we’re just not getting a whole lot out of it. And that happens sometimes — it happens in streaks like this, and then you’ll go on the road to Denver and everything will start falling for us. Or Chicago. It’s a strange game, and you’ve just got to stay with it.” – Chip Hale
NOTED
– Chacin was optioned down to Triple-A after the game, so the team could make room for Allen Webster. He’ll likely be right back up in early September though.
– For the second consecutive night, Ahmed batted ninth, while the pitcher spot hit eighth.
UP NEXT
These two teams will wrap up their series Sunday afternoon at Chase Field. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 12:30 on ESPN Phoenix 620. Webster will get the start for Arizona, while Oakland sends Jesse Chavez to the mound.
Webster (1-1) will be making just his fifth start of the year for the D-backs, and his first since June 29. He also made a relief appearance for Arizona in Washington on Aug. 6. On the season, he’s sporting a 6.86 ERA and 1.67 WHIP.
Chavez (7-13) has alternated wins and losses in each of his last five starts, most recently taking the defeat in Seattle versus the Mariners on Aug. 25. That was arguably his worst outing of the year, as he allowed the Mariners to score six times in just 4.2 innings. This will mark his fifth career appearance against Arizona, but his first ever start.
Following Sunday’s game, the Diamondbacks begin a seven-game road trip through Colorado and Chicago.
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