Diamondbacks Starting Lineup: A Familiar Cast as D-backs Take on Twins
Things are starting to look very familiar night after night for the Diamondbacks and I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. There was a time, in the not-to-distant past, when the lineup seemed to change nearly every day. Now, it’s getting a bit more predictable and that’s a good thing considering it’s a very good lineup, indeed.
With that said, you can [could have] likely guess the first six players. I bracket that comment because I’ve just learned that J.D. Martinez has been scratched due to an illness.
David Peralta leads off and he’s followed by A.J. Pollock, Jake Lamb, Paul Goldschmidt, and Daniel Descalso, who was moved up in the lineup with the scratch of Martinez. Chris Iannetta is catching and bats sixth. Brandon Drury will bat seventh and play as the designated hitter tonight, so kind of a night off but not quite.
Ketel Marte is slashing .295/.375/.495 so far this season. Mighty impressive. He’s batting in the eighth spot tonight but don’t be surprised to see him move higher up in the order soon. In fact, I wouldn’t at all mind seeing him bat leadoff.
Closing out the batting order, in the ninth spot, is Gregor Blanco.
Zack Godley takes the mound tonight for the D-backs looking for his 5th win in his 18th start this season. While Godley doesn’t appear to have the same dominating stuff as his teammate, Zack Greinke, he has a lower ERA (2.95) than Greinke (3.01). He’s been very good at limiting the long ball too, touting a mere .68 HR/9.
J.D. Martinez has been scratched due to illness.
Updated #Dbacks lineup. pic.twitter.com/IRxDgvdAt0
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) August 18, 2017
