Un-Bear-Able At Times

Dbacks V Cubs Series Review

After leaving Miami with a clean sweep of the Marlins and a nice 3-0 start to this road trip, the vibes were at a season high as the Snakes went to the Northside of Chicago in an attempt to extend their 5 game winning streak and to take on the NL Central leading Chicago Cubs. While the Cubs aren’t in the same division as the Diamondbacks, this series could prove crucial as the winner of the series would own the tiebreaker over the other in the NL Wild Card race come October.

Key Takeaways from this series

We were so back…and then we weren’t…

The fellas opened up this series recap discussing the wild ride that was the 7th and 8th inning in Fridays affair, as the 2 teams combined to score 21 runs in just 1.5 innings with 20 Hits, 6 Home Runs (2 of them being Grand Slams) and plenty of heartbreak for fans of both teams. While the hindsight of knowing the bullpen was stretched super thin and less than half of the arms were available for Torey to call upon, it didn’t make the 6 runs allowed by both Bryce Jarvi or Joe Mantiply easy to swallow. The gang questioned who was more at fault for this meltdown, Torey and the arms he called upon, or Mike Hazen for not making a move to get more fresh arms from Reno to aid the thin pen.

Zac Attack Seems to Lack His Stuff

Zac Gallen’s wild and inconsistent year continued on the North Side of Chicago, as the Cubs seemed to have his number once again

• In 2 starts against Cubs this year, Gallens numbers are as follows
• 10 IP with a 9.00 ERA, 11 H, 10 ER, 3 HR, 6 BB’s and 9 K’s
• Opp Slash: .262/.354/.571 > .925 OPS
• 18.2% Soft Contact, 45.5% Medium Contact, 36.4% Hard Contact
• Zac’s Numbers on the season as a whole:
• 27.1 IP in 5 starts (5.1 IP avg), 5.60 ERA w/ 29 K’s to 13 BB’s and 5 HR and a 1.43 WHIP
• 10.7 BB%, 9.5 K/9, 4.3 BB/9, 4.81 FIP and 4.35 xFIP
• Opp Slash: .241/.328/.444 > .772 OPS
• 15.2% Soft Contact, 49.4% Medium Contact, 35.4% Hard Contact

The fellas discussed what Zac’s big issues seem to be so far in 2025, and why the Cubs seem to be able to see him so well after struggling mightily against him the previous 3 seasons (4 outings total)

Stagnant Offense

Things seemed to start off well in Game 2 as Corbin Carroll hit his 7th HR to leadoff the game and get things rolling. Sadly Corbin’s solo shot would be the only sign of life for the next 8.2 innings until Tim Tawa’s ‘Chris Paul’-esque HR in the 9th was the first Non-Corbin hit from the Dback’s of the day.

• Corbin Carroll: 3-4, 1 BB, 1 HR and 1 K
• Hitters 2-9: 1-28, 1 HR, 4 BB, 9 K
• Team was 0-7 w/ RISP, 9 Left On Base

This snoozefest of an offensive showing had the fellas discussing whether this was due to the team being deflated from the heartbreaking loss the prior game or just the Cubs pitching staff doing what they are paid to do and keeping the D’Backs off balance all game long.

Merrill Used His Strong Hand! (Just Not His Strong Leg)

After 2 separate rain delays, 1 to delay the start of of the game and a 40 minute one that happened in the bottom of the 1st, Merrill Kelly stayed in the game and looked like his normal mainstay self with a solid 5.2 IP of 1 run ball before being removed in the 6th with more right leg cramping. After Merrill gave up a career worst 9 ER against the Yankees a few weeks back, The Mainstay has looked like his usual self since

• Stats since giving up career high 9 ER VS NYY:
• 17.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 4 BB and 18 K
• 2.09 ERA over that span
• ERA gone from 10.00 to 4.73

This hot streak from Kelly had the crew discussing what they think the key to his success has been as of late, and if his recurring cramping issue is something to worry about once again or if it was because of the rainy weather.

They Forgot About Drey

With some fresh arms and a More rested bullpen, the Dbacks bullpen arms of Ryan Thompson, Jalen Beeks, Shelby Miller and Drey Jameson combined for 5.2 innings and 1 R (0 ER due to it being the ghost runner in the 10th) including Drey getting the save in his first appearance of 2025. The crew talked about their thoughts on the bullpen’s much cleaner performance in comparison to Fridays disaster, as well as how nice it felt to see Drey Day back on the mound, putting fire in our blood once again.