D-backs Starting Lineup & Game Preview: Godley Looks to Slow Down Cubs, Band is Back Together
If things go anything like they did last night. No, wait. I’m not even going to go there. Because they won’t. Just exactly why I think that is about to be revealed. Now.
Zack Godley (4-4, 3.06 ERA) is on the mound tonight for the Diamondbacks. He had a bumpy start to the second half by giving up seven runs to Atlanta, his worst outing of the year. Fear not, his last outing was indeed his finest of the year — with a game score of 77 — shutting down the Cardinals with seven innings of four-hit baseball.
On the season, Godley has been equally stingy against lefties, who slash .203/.285/.356 against him, as he has against right-handed batters, who are slashing .191/.260/.278. He has a 57.5 GB% against this year, which will serve him well at Wrigley Field.
His opponent on the hill, Jake Arrieta (10-7, 4.03 ERA), has regressed quite a bit this year when compared to his Cy Young Award winning year of 2015 and even compared to 2016. His 45.5 GB% is something that the D-backs should be able to take advantage of. In fact, his HR/FB ratio of 15.0% is his highest as a big-leaguer.
The D-backs are back tonight with their best one-thru-five batting order of David Peralta, A.J. Pollock, Jake Lamb, Paul Goldschmidt and J.D. Martinez. They’re followed by Daniel Descalso at second base, Chris Iannetta catching and Jack Reimheimer at shortstop and making his major-league debut.
Look for Goldy to have a nice game tonight. He’s batting .308 for his career against Arrieta, with a .615 slugging percentage. Assuming that Arrieta is aware of that and chooses to pitch around Goldschmidt, Martinez will be there waiting to punish him for said avoidance.
Tonight's #Dbacks lineup. #OurSeason pic.twitter.com/HtP3tCe15b
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) August 2, 2017
