San Francisco Giants at Arizona Diamondbacks Betting Preview
The Arizona Diamondbacks (25-20) shutout the San Francisco Giants (18-25) on Friday 7-0 in Game 1 of a three-game series. Arizona had good pitching, timely hitting and solid defense. It’s just the kind of game Torey Lovullo likes from the Diamondbacks, as he became the second-fastest manager in team history to reach 200 wins.
Arizona Keeping Offense Hot
Eduardo Escobar hit a three-run triple and David Peralta homered, lifting the Diamondbacks to a 7-0 win over the Giants on Friday. The Diamondbacks used Lovullo’s blueprint to get him to the milestone, getting good pitching early and building quality at-bats as the game progressed. Peralta hit a solo homer off Jeff Samardzija (2-2) and Escobar cleared the bases with a slicing triple against Darek Holland in the seventh.
Adam Jones had a run-scoring double among his three hits and three relievers combined with Merrill Kelly (4-4) for Arizona’s third shutout of the season. Kelly worked around a high early pitch count in 5 1/3 scoreless innings after two shaky outings. The right-hander allowed 10 combined earned runs his previous two outings, but was effective against the Giants until running into trouble in the sixth inning.
Giants Had Chances
San Francisco loaded the bases with one out to chase the right-hander, but Yoshihisa Hirano struck out Brandon Crawford and got Kevin Pillar to fly out to right. Kelly allowed six hits and struck out four. The first inning has been a struggle for Samardzija this season. He has a 12.38 ERA in the opening frame and allowed a majors-most six first-inning homers.
The right-hander made it through the first inning unscathed and held the Diamondbacks in check until Peralta lifted a solo homer to left-center in the fourth innings. Jones chased Samardzija with a run-scoring double and Ketel Marte put Arizona up 3-0 with a broken-bat RBI single off Reyes Moranta.
Samardzija allowed three runs on five hits and walked three in 5 1/3 innings. He did not strike out a batter for the first time in 101 career starts. Giants manager Bruce Bochy was ejected in the seventh inning for arguing a call after Jarod Dyson was hit on the hand attempting a bunt.
Bochy walked out of the dugout while trainers attended to Dyson and home plate umpire Andy Fletcher gave him an almost nonchalant ejection. Catcher Buster Posey went 2 for 4 after being activated from the seven-day concussion list. He had been out since May 10, two days after taking a foul tip off the mask. … Third baseman Evan Longoria was sick and out of the lineup.
RHP Zach Greinke will throw a bullpen session on Saturday after an MRI on Friday came back clean for the Diamondbacks. He left Wednesday’s game with abdominal tightness. The Diamondbacks will assess Greinke after his bullpen to determine whether he can start on Tuesday.
Arizona Tops San Francisco
Giants LHP Madison Bumgarner, Saturday’s starter against Arizona, went 1-1 with a 1.50 ERA against the Diamondbacks last season. RHP Zack Godley will make the start for the Diamondbacks after returning from the bullpen. The Diamondbacks get a nice outing and win this game over Arizona.