After closing the first half of the season in horrible fashion, the Arizona Diamondbacks came up with a big victory in their first game following the All-Star break.
The Diamondbacks look to win consecutive games for the first time in three weeks when they continue a key three-game series with the NL West-leading San Diego Padres.
Arizona (48-43) snapped a five-game losing streak with an 8-3 victory over the Padres (49-39) in Friday’s series opener. The Diamondbacks had scored just eight runs in their previous three games, but pounded out 15 hits as they improved to 10-1 against future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux.
Arizona entered the break with losses in eight of nine, but with Friday’s victory pulled within 2 1/2 games of San Diego, which is one percentage point ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Diamondbacks have not won back-to-back contests since June 23 and 24.
Arizona left fielder Eric Byrnes had three hits and an RBI on Friday after going 1-for-14 in his previous four games. Byrnes has not had much success against Saturday’s starter Chris Young (8-3, 2.00 ERA), though, going 2-for-13 (.154) with six strikeouts.
Young is taking the place in the rotation of Jake Peavy, who’s being skipped because of sore biceps.
While Peavy started Tuesday’s All-Star game for the NL, Young has arguably been the most dominating pitcher in the league during the last month. The right-hander is 3-0 with a 1.03 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 43 2-3 innings over his last seven starts, allowing no runs in five of those outings.
In his final start before the break July 4th, he gave up five hits and struck out nine in seven innings of a 1-0 win over Florida, although he didn’t get the decision.
Young, who won the fan vote for the final spot on the NL All-Star team, gave up two runs in one inning and took the loss in the AL’s 5-4 victory.
While Young is enjoying a terrific season, he had one of his worst outings of the year against the Diamondbacks. He gave up a season-high six runs and six hits - including two homers - in 5 1-3 innings of a 7-4 road defeat on April 26. Young has not allowed a home run since Tony Clark took him deep in the sixth inning of that game - a span of 77 innings.
The right-hander is 1-1 with a 4.05 ERA in three career starts against the Diamondbacks.
Padres third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff fell a single shy of the cycle Friday and is batting .435 (10-for-23) with five RBIs in his last seven games.
Arizona’s Livan Hernandez (5-5, 4.54) once again seeks his first win in more than a month when he takes the hill Saturday.
After going 5-2 with a 3.58 ERA in his first 11 starts of 2007, Hernandez is 0-3 with a 6.21 ERA in his last seven since defeating Houston on May 27. He’s allowed 12 home runs in 42 innings during the winless stretch after yielding just four homers in 73 innings in his first 11 outings.
In his last start, the right-hander gave up three runs and 10 hits - including two home runs - in seven innings of a 5-4 loss to St. Louis on July 4th. He did not factor in the decision.
Hernandez is 10-3 with a 3.77 ERA in 19 starts against the Diamondbacks, but has posted a 7.50 ERA in going 1-1 in two starts against them this season.
For Pizza I’m on the Pardres backing Young -140
Good Luck,
Tommy Mac
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