Diamondbacks 4, Reds 3: Kubel Saves Bell From Grisly Death


What looked like another game of Heath Bell related garment rending turned into the second walk-off this week as the Diamondbacks came from behind to win the series against the Reds with a sweep in the cards tomorrow.

There were reasons that this particular contest might not go the way of the Diamondbacks. First off, Cincinnati pitcher Mike Leake (ARIZONA STATE SHOPLIFTING BLAH BLAH.) was dealing to start off the game, and was perfect through 5 and 2/3.

This was compounded by the fact that Patrick Corbin was pitching really well, except for a solo home run by Jay Bruce in the second to make it 1-0 Reds. However, the game was close because of him, despite the early offensive ineptitude by the Diamondbacks. However, 15 of those outs during the perfect stretch were balls in play, implying some luck on his part.

Leake's luck would run out with two outs in the sixth. Corbin, of all people, would break up the would be perfect game with a double down the line. Gerardo Parra would then make Leake pay with a #RamTrucksPoolShot to give the D'Backs a 2-1 lead.

Neither team would have any other scoring chances until the top of the eighth for the Reds. Derrick Robinson hit his first career triple on a ball that was apparently lubed up to questionably lengths, since it took Parra a few tries to pick up the ball. A runner on third with one out is not an ideal situation, especially with Shin-Soo Choo and Joey Votto coming up. Patrick Corbin does not care about these things. He got Choo to strike out and on his 104th and final pitch of the night, got Votto to strike out swinging on a 3-2 count.

Corbin's quest for win number ten was tenuous in the top of the ninth because Heath Bell had come in to "close". use the quotes there cause reasons. He gave up a leadoff walk to Brandon Phillips. And like on Monday against the Marlins, he let the one guy in the Reds lineup who could really kill you, kill you by giving up a two-run shot to Jay Bruce to make it 3-2. He was then yanked out of the game for Brad Ziegler, who took care of business.


Here is me editorializing a bit, but there has to be a point where Heath Bell stops closing, right? I mean, look at this:

Why is it a good idea to give this guy high-leverage situation? I like to consider myself a kind of smart person, but that just doesn't make sense. Sure, after one shaky outing you still give the guy a chance, but five in a row? This is just being a slave to the save stat, this is what it is. This is not the America I grew up in. It's a damn disgrace and George Washington would throttle Heath Bell if he were alive. Why back in my day..

I'm being signaled from offstage to "FINISH THE DAMN RECAP ALREADY" Anyway, yeah, bottom of the ninth, it doesn't look good. Aroldis Chapman, he of the "No really, why am I not starting?" fame came into the game and decided to one-up Heath Bell. First Paul Goldschmidt singled on a ball that Joey Votto did not get a good play on. Chapman then proceeded to walk Miguel Montero and then walk Cody Ross, who took a possibly borderline pitch on ball three but what the hell we'll take it. Jason Kubel then came up and lined the second pitch he saw to the outfield and Goldy and Miggy scored to give the D'Backs another walk-off! Much rejoicing! We can win despite Bell!

Source: FanGraphs
Even more Bell-y than Kristen: Patrick Corbin, +43.6%
Kristen Bell:
Gerardo Parra, +28.0%, Jason Kubel, +23.1%
Bell End: Heath Bell, -65.9%

Over 500 comments in the GDT. I had the most, so booya, where's my prize? Also around: AzDbackfanInDc, Baseballdad, Circa4life, Diamondhacks, Dutchfan, Fangdango, Gravity, GuruB, Jim McLennan, JoeCB1991, JoelPre, Lozenge, Majabe, Marc Fournier, Notorious PSC, The so-called Beautiful, Zavada's Moustache, asteroid, azshadowwalker, baby pa, frienetic, hotclaws, luckycc, onedotfive, piratedan7, porty99, preston.salisbury, ptoulon, rd33, shoewizard, and since_98

COTN goes to ZM, for summing up the bottom of the ninth perfectly:



Tomorrow the D'Backs go for the sweep against the Reds. Bet you didn't see that one coming, eh smart guy? Randall Delgado takes on Mat Latos at 1:10 PM Arizona time. You wouldn't want to miss it... Unless you've got stuff to do, which I understand.

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