Diamondbacks Gauntlet Continues as Braves Roll into Chase Field

The Arizona Diamondbacks (45-45) return home to Chase Field to take on the Atlanta Braves (49-39) in a four game series, starting Monday night.

The D-backs just concluded a thrilling and successful six game road trip to Los Angeles and San Diego, going 4-2 and getting back to .500. They're currently two games behind the Padres for the third National League Wild Card position, and 9.5 games behind the Dodgers.

The Braves just concluded a four game series with the Phillies at home in which they dropped the first two games, but stormed back to take the final two and split the series. That leaves the Braves eight games behind the Phillies in the NL East, but still in the first Wild Card position, 2.5 games ahead of the Cardinals.

The D-backs' 4.93 Runs Scored per game ranks second in the NL. Their 4.84 R/G allowed ranks 13th in the league. This is due to a slew of pitching injuries to their starting rotation, and most of their young pitchers filling the gaps being inconsistent.

Despite losing Spencer Strider for the year, the Braves' 3.64 R/G allowed is the best in the league. Surprisingly it's the offense that has kept the Braves from catching up to the Phillies. Their 4.31 R/G is below the league average of 4.42 and ranks 8th. A big reason for that is Ronald Acuna Jr. suffered a season ending knee injury.

Series Pitching Matchups

Monday, 6:40 P.M. MST. RHP Bryce Elder vs RHP Yilber Diaz

Originally slated to start Chris Sale, the Braves instead opted last-minute to recall right-hander Bryce Elder and start him in Sale's place. Elder struggled greatly in May, and, witb a 5.76 ERA on June 27th, he was optioned to Triple-A, albeit after only six starts.

He's pitched to a 4.35 ERA with 62 strikeouts in 51 2/3 innings with the Gwinnett Stripers, and will return to the big leagues to face the D-backs. Elder sports a low-90s sinker and four-seam, with a slider and changeup to boot.

Yilber Diaz is making his major league debut. (Stats in table above are from AA & AAA combined). He began the year in Amarillo, and was promoted to Reno a month ago, In his most recent outing he threw six scoreless, hitless innings while striking out 13. You can read more about that outing and his season here.

Tuesday, 6:40 P.M. MST. LHP Chris Sale vs RHP Zac Gallen

Chris Sale is finally healthy and back to being a leading Cy Young candidate. From 2013-2018 Sale finished in the top 5 of the CY voting every year. But from 2019 thru 2023 he made just 56 starts with a mediocre 4.16 ERA. With Elder brought back to start on Monday, Sale will be pushed to face Zac Gallen on Tuesday.

Now fully healthy, the 35 year old Sale is second in the league in ERA and first in Fielding Independent Pitching. His 11 wins also leads the league. His 4-seam and 2-seam fastballs are still averaging in the mid 90's range and his slider ranks first in all of MLB in run value. Oh, and his changeup ranks 3rd. Good luck.

Zac Gallen struggled with command in his July 4th outing in LA, walking three batters in just four innings of work. While he set career bests for fastball velocity, reaching 98 several times and averaging 96, he was having trouble commanding the increased stuff.

Gallen missed a month with a hamstring injury, but seems primed for a big second half. He threw a career high 242 innings last year, including the postseason. Throwing just 68 innings so far this year may be a blessing in disguise. If he maintains even a 95+ MPH fastball average and locates it, he will be near impossible for hitters to deal with.

Wednesday, 6:40 P.M. MST. RHP Charlie Morton vs TBD

40 year old Charlie Morton just keeps rolling along. With 16 starts he's on track to reach 30 games started in each of the last six full major league seasons. Since his age 33 season he's 89-47, .654 W% and has a 3.58 ERA. This year however his 3.96 ERA is hovering right around league average due to some inconsistency.

Morton has nine outings allowing two runs or fewer but seven starts allowing four runs or more.  His fastball velocity is down slightly, but still averages 94. It's the big bender however that remains his calling card. He throws the curveball 40% and it generates a ton of swing and miss and soft contact.

The Wednesday starter is currently listed as TBD for Arizona. This would be Slade Cecconi's turn, but it's unclear if he will make this start or if the team will opt to go with some sort of a bullpen game. Cecconi last pitched against the Padres on July 5th.

Typically dominant in the first and second innings, it was yet another outing in which Cecconi could not get past the 4th inning without getting touched up. Still just 25 years old and with just 89 innings under his belt, it's far from too late to solve this issue. But the team may be hesitant to start him right now in the middle of the Wild Card hunt.

Thursday, 6:40 P.M. LHP Max Fried vs RHP Brandon Pfaadt

Max Fried is having another very good season. 38 pitchers have made at least 100 starts since 2020. Fried's 2.75 ERA in that span is the lowest of all of them. Corbin Burnes is second at 2.78, Zac Gallen is 6th with 3.24.

He was knocked around by the Phillies in his last outing however, giving up 11 hits and five runs in six innings.  That inflated his ERA from 2.91 to 3.18.  His fastball velocity is about 94 and he is another Braves pitcher with a big curveball, which garners a 33% WHIFF rate.

Brandon Pfaadt was hit on the ankle on a 98 MPH comebacker off the bat of Luis Arraez in the fifth innng of his Saturday start in San Diego. X-rays were negative and the Diamondbacks said it was a contusion.

Both Torey Lovullo and Pfaadt said they were very confident he would be able to make his next start, but as of this writing, it's still denoted as TBD by the team.