Before a conversation with Indians SS Francisco Lindor, Buster Olney talks to Karl Ravech and Justin Havens about a lack of improvement in pace of play, Terry Collins' future in Queens, the Diamondbacks' surge under Torey Lovullo and more. Plus, Susan Slusser on Oakland's strategy with Sonny Gray.
Robbie Ray pitched seven innings of two-hit ball to lower the NL's second-best road ERA to 0.57, Gregor Blanco and Chris Owings homered and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-0 Thursday night for their ninth win in 10 games.
Diamondbacks 3B Jake Lamb has 40 RBIs in 44 games this season. Only three other D-backs players reached 40 RBIs in a season in 45-or-fewer games: Matt Williams in 1999 (37 games), Steve Finley in 2000 (43) and Luis Gonzalez in 2001 (40), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. (Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Jake Lamb's home run off Jose Quintana was his first extra-base hit, and only his second hit, in his past 23 trips to the plate against a left-hander. He had struck out in 13 of those PAs. Success against left-handers is really Lamb's only remaining obstacle standing in his path to fantasy stardom, and the homer is at least a good first step. It reminds us that he has shown an ability to succeed against them before: He had .250 isolated power and whiffed only 24 percent of the time against them during the first half of 2016.
Jake Lamb homered off a left-hander for only the second time this season, five Diamondbacks drove in at least one run and Arizona beat Chicago 8-6 on Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep of the White Sox.
Jake Lamb and Chris Herrmann homered and Arizona held off the Chicago White Sox 5-4 on Tuesday night for the Diamondbacks' seventh win in eight games.
Yes, that's Fernando Rodney with his seventh consecutive scoreless appearance for the Diamondbacks following two blown saves in which he allowed eight runs. He tossed a 1-2-3 ninth as Arizona has won seven of eight and 10 of 13. Fire the arrow, big guy.
Over his last six starts, Zack Greinke is 5–0 with a 2.55 ERA and 58 strikeouts, including 12 vs. the White Sox on Monday. That's Greinke's highest strikeout total over a span of six starts in his major league career. His previous best was 54 K's over his first six starts of 2009, when he won the AL Cy Young, per the Elias Sports Bureau. (Photo: Kevin Abele/Icon Sportswire)
Buster Olney recaps all of Monday's MLB action, including a milestone HR in Atlanta, a dominant performance by Zack Greinke and an offensive explosion for the Twins.
Zack Greinke has pitched eight-plus innings with 10-plus strikeouts and no greater than one run allowed in two of his past three starts. During his No. 2-overall-on-the-Player Rater 2015, he had only one such game all season. Perhaps more importantly, both of those two starts this month have come with the roof open at Chase Field, which was usually a problem for him in 2016. Greinke is moving back into my top 10 fantasy starters going forward.
Buster Olney talks to Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo about finding success in his first year in Arizona, what he likes about Zack Greinke and Paul Goldschmidt, going toe-to-toe with the Dodgers in the NL West and more.
Zack Greinke struck out a season-high 12 and came within one out of a complete game, as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Chicago White Sox 5-1 on Monday night.
Diamondbacks LF Yasmany Tomas (rest) is not in Monday's lineup vs. the White Sox. Reymond Fuentes will start in his place and bat seventh against Miguel Gonzalez.
Diamondbacks 3B Jake Lamb lands NL Player of the Week honors for the second time in his career. Against the Padres on Friday, Lamb had his first multi-homer game and set a career high with five RBIs.
If you thought A.J. Pollock's latest injury would immediately stop the D-backs, guess again. They've won five of six since then, with players like Jake Lamb stepping up.
In mid-February, we wondered if Zack Greinke could pitch like a $206.5 million man. With his increased reliance on his slider, the results have been promising so far.
Clayton Richard gave San Diego a desperately needed strong pitching performance with a five-hitter that helped the Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-1 on Sunday to snap a five-game losing streak.
Robbie Ray took a shutout into the eighth inning, David Peralta had four hits and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres 9-1 Saturday night for their fifth straight win.
Diamondbacks C Chris Herrmann launched a two-run homer to dead center on Saturday vs. the Padres. The wind-aided long ball was Herrmann's fourth of the season and he is now two-thirds of the way to his 2016 total.
Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Chris Iannetta was reinstated Saturday from the seven-day concussion disabled list after being hit in the face by a pitch on May 12.
Joey Gallo just barely edged out Jose Abreu for the longest bomb in MLB on Friday. Kennys Vargas' game-tying shot in the ninth inning against the Royals was next, with a pair of D-backs rounding out the list.
Arizona's Jake Lamb had two home runs and five RBI as the Diamondbacks coasted after an eight-run first inning to crush the San Diego Padres 10-1 on Friday night.
The Diamondbacks have kept things mostly traditional, although it's worth noting how long they've let Fernando Rodney get bombed in the closer role.
| TEAM | W | L | PCT | GB | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | 31 | 18 | .633 | - | L1 |
| Arizona | 30 | 19 | .612 | 1 | W4 |
| Los Angeles | 28 | 20 | .583 | 2.5 | W1 |
| San Francisco | 20 | 29 | .408 | 11 | L3 |
| San Diego | 18 | 31 | .367 | 13 | W2 |
