PHOENIX — The Arizona heat is a fitting setting for the two teams meeting here this weekend.
The Diamondbacks return home Friday after an 8-2 road trip that included three wins by right-hander Zack Greinke and vaulted them 13 games over .500 Ezekiel Elliott Jersey Elite , tying a season high. NL West rival San Francisco has won seven of its last 11 and is coming in after a 7-3 homestand, its best since the 2012 World Series season.
The Diamondbacks took series victories over the Angels, Pittsburgh and Miami and gained two games on the second-place Los Angeles Dodgers to build a 3 1/2 game division lead. They are a sparkling 21-8 since May 28.
“I can’t think of a day where we played bad really,” multi-tasking Greinke told reporters Thursday, when he pitched seven shutout innings in a 4-0 victory over the Marlins while contributing two singles, a stolen base, an RBI and a run.
Greinke became the first pitcher since Bob Gibson in 1969 to have a hit, an RBI and a stolen base in as many as two games in the same season.
“There’s a record every game. You’ve just got to look hard enough for it,” he continued.
The Giants had series victories against Miami, San Diego and Colorado in their homestand, losing the finale to Colorado 9-8 on Thursday.
Arizona left-hander Patrick Corbin, who has had abundant success against the Giants this season, faces San Francisco left-hander Andrew Suarez in the opener of the three-game series Friday.
Paul Goldschmidt, who had three hits and an RBI Thursday, enters the series on a roll. He is batting .404 with seven doubles Jaire Alexander Jersey Youth , nine homers and 22 RBIs in his last 22 games while raising his batting average to a season-high .267. He was as low as .198 on May 22. Goldschmidt has feasted on the Giants this season, going 16-for-33 with seven doubles, two homers and seven RBIs in nine games this year.
Each team has gotten healthier as the second half beckons. Shelby Miller and Robbie Ray rejoined the Diamondbacks’ starting rotation in Miami.
Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner has thrown 15 consecutive scoreless innings in his last two starts. He has made five starts, four quality starts, after returning from the disabled list June 5 in a 3-2 loss to Arizona at AT&T Park. Right-handers Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija could return soon.
“You try to look at the silver lining on these injuries,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy told reporters this week.
“It’s going to limit their innings and hopefully we see it as we get into August and September, these guys are still fresh. Throw Cueto in there, Samardzija. You make 31, 32 starts, it can take a toll on you. Madison has always been able to handle it, I’ll say that. The fact he’s missed a lot of time should help him.”
Corbin, 6-3 with a 3.24 ERA, is 2-0 with a 2.32 ERA in three starts against the Giants this season. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before giving up a two-out, check-swing single to Brandon Belt in a 1-0 victory on April 17, his first career shutout. Corbin gave up one run in 6 1/3 innings of a 3-2 victory at the Giants on June 5.
He threw seven scoreless innings and a tied a career high with 12 strikeouts in his last outing Myles Garrett Jersey , a no-decision at Pittsburgh on June 22 in a game the Diamondbacks won 2-1 in 12 innings. Corbin is 7-7 with a 3.07 ERA in 22 career appearances against the Giants, 20 starts. He is 4-3 with a 3.92 ERA at Chase Field this season.
Rookie Suarez, 2-4 with a 4.43 ERA, has made 12 starts this season, 11 since joining the rotation for good on May 1, just before Cueto went out. He made his major league debut in a spot start against Arizona on April 11, giving up four runs in 5 1/3 innings in a 7-3 home loss. Goldschmidt and John Ryan Murphy homered off him in that game.
Suarez is 1-0 with a 2.86 ERA in five June starts and gave up one run in 5 2/3 innings in his last start, a no-decision in a 5-3 victory over San Diego on Saturday. He is 1-2 with a 6.18 ERA in six road starts this season. He has never pitched in Chase Field.
Offensive coordinator Mike McCoy is building the Arizona Cardinals‘ offense from scratch and, big surprise, David Johnson is figuring prominently in his plays.
”David’s a special back,” McCoy said after the Cardinals practiced in pads in muggy weather outdoors on Tuesday.
”You see how the offensive line worked together the first day in pads (on Monday),” McCoy said. ”That was a positive, watching those guys and the way they all work together. We’ve got a long ways to go still but that’s what training camp is for. But we’re off to a good start.”
McCoy brings plenty of experience to work alongside first-year coach Steve Wilks. McCoy was head coach of the San Diego Chargers as well as two stints as offensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos.
Johnson sat out minicamp in a contract dispute but came back for training camp and, as always, has impressed his coaches.
”I think everybody knows what kind of player he is Josh Jackson Jersey Elite ,” McCoy said. ”The way he played in the ’16 season. He can do it all.”
Johnson led the NFL in yards from scrimmage in 2016 but broke his left wrist in last year’s opener and missed the remainder of the season. He’s fully healthy now.
McCoy said that most running backs are all right out of the backfield, ”but he’s special.”
”He can run every route in the route tree a receiver runs,” McCoy said. ”Are we going to do that with him? We’ll find out come the season, and you just love the way he works all the day.”
At quarterback, Sam Bradford is working on chemistry with his receivers, particularly Larry Fitzgerald, who has caught at least one pass from 17 different quarterbacks in his 14-year NFL career.
Bradford and Fitzgerald both were given a veteran’s day off from practice on Tuesday.
”He’s looked great,” McCoy said of Bradford. ”He’s very intelligent. He goes through the progressions. You can watch thee veterans, different from a young player, when something’s not there and it breaks down, there’s no hesitation of where to go with the ball. Sam’s done a great job of running the show when he’s in there.”
Quarterback Josh Rosen, meanwhile, is going through a rookie learning curve.
”Josh is like every rookie,” McCoy said. ”There’s the good days, there’s the good plays and there’s that one or two plays you look at and you say `OK Reuben Foster Jersey , I know this is the first time you saw blitz zero with this play or this protection scheme, but didn’t we just go over it in the meeting?”
The offense will be designed to take advantage of what the players do best, McCoy said.
And it’s clear that he and Wilks want a physical running game.
”That’s what training camp’s for, really, for the running game,” McCoy said. ”You try to become a physical football team in training camp.”
The Cardinals overhauled the offensive line. D.J. Humphries remains at left tackle, Mike Iupati is still the left guard and A.Q. Shipley is still the center. But the right side is occupied by a couple of free agent signees – Justin Pugh at right guard and Andre Smith at right tackle.
Now they’re strengths are being evaluated.
”Who is the best puller? Who are our best double-team guys? How do our tight ends block certain schemes?” McCoy said ”So you find out a lot about your players. That’s our job as coaches is to make sure to find out what they do best.”
That’s especially true of quarterbacks.
If a quarterback doesn’t like a play that’s on the call sheet, McCoy said, ”Give me that red pen, we’ll cross off those plays you don’t like and we’ll be OK if everyone believes in what we’re doing.”
The biggest competition on offense might be at wide receiver, where a handful of players are vying for the spots behind Fitzgerald.
That won’t sort itself out, most likely, until the end of preseason.
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13.08.2018 11:18
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