Two surprise teams in the National League West will get an opportunity to show off their playoff-contending form to one another when the Arizona Diamondbacks kick off a three-game road series against the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.
Right-handers Zach Davies (1-3, 7.11 ERA) of the first-place Diamondbacks and Logan Webb (6-6, 3.11) of the second-place Giants are the scheduled starters in a matchup of teams that finished 37 and 30 games, respectively, behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West last season.
The Diamondbacks passed the Dodgers for the top spot in the division earlier this month during their current 17-7 run that includes a pair of six-game winning streaks.
Arizona was redirected from Milwaukee to Washington on what was supposed to be an off day Thursday to make up an earlier rainout. The Diamondbacks made the most of it with a 5-3 win that was their fifth victory in seven games.
That result, coupled with the Giants’ 10-0 home loss to the San Diego Padres on Thursday, allowed the Diamondbacks to begin the showdown series with a 3 1/2-game advantage in the West.
Arizona rookie star Corbin Carroll will make just his second visit to San Francisco, having amassed four hits, including three doubles, in a three-game introduction late last season.
Carroll, the major league leader among rookies in home runs (16), runs (57) and slugging percentage (.576), contributed a hit and two runs to the win in Washington.
“It’s definitely cool,” Carroll, 22, said of his early individual success. “But it’s also cool to play winning baseball. That’s, in my mind, the more important part.”
The Giants saw their 10-game winning streak end with the blowout loss Thursday, denying them a four-game sweep of the Padres. Still, their 14-5 June record is second best in the NL to the Braves’ 15-3 mark and also has allowed them to pass the Dodgers in the division standings.
San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler found a positive in the blowout loss, citing Joc Pederson, Blake Sabol, Jakob Junis and Sean Manaea for doing something not often seen at the major league level.
“Veteran players don’t really want to come in and play in games when you’re down seven, down eight, down nine, down 10 runs, so it was really cool to see a few of our guys step up and get us prepared for the games against Arizona,” he said. “While this is a bad day, there was some really great teammate behavior that you only see on good teams.”
The Giants and Diamondbacks are meeting for the second series this season, with Arizona having won three of four games in May at Phoenix.
Webb started one of the Giants’ losses in that series, though he wasn’t involved in the decision after giving up just one run and three hits in seven innings. He is 3-2 with a 2.41 ERA in seven career starts against Arizona and has won his past two starts overall, against the St. Louis Cardinals and Dodgers.
Davies has made 10 lifetime starts against San Francisco, going 1-4 with a 3.50 ERA. He didn’t face the Giants last month. Davies has lost his past two outings, giving up a combined 15 runs (12 earned) on 15 hits in 6 2/3 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies and Cleveland Guardians.
–Field Level Media
