Series Preview: Diamondbacks @ Angels (NL West Quickie)

Angels 38-34
Diamondbacks 39-32

The Angels are in a bit of a rough stretcher and have dropped 6 of their last 7 games. The Offense has woken up a little bit with 23 runs scored over their last 4 games, but the bullpen struggles are very real. They haven’t played the 1st place Diamondbacks since 2015 when that 4 game set was split. Since the two teams started playing in 1998, the Angels are 14-11.

While the Angels bats have been better as of late, they are not close to what the Diamondbacks have been doing. The Diamondbacks have scored 72 runs over their last 10 games with 8 or more runs in 5 of those. All this and that’s WITH the pitcher hitting. The Diamondbacks will have the added benefit of an extra bat as DH while they play in Anaheim.

Know your foe:

Diamondbacks - who’s hot (last 7 days):

Jon Jay .552 OBP, 1 home run
Paul Goldschmidt .438 OBP, 2 home runs
David Peralta .357 OBP, 3 home runs

Weather Forecast

GAME 1

Jaime Barria v. Zack Greinke
Monday, June 18th @ 7:075PM

Pitcher vs. Batters

Notable Stats

Summary:

Barria should have his hands full with an Arizona lineup that has been firing on all cylinders lately. He’s still putting together an impressive season but Seattle knocked him around for 8 hits and 3 runs in his last outing.

Pitch Arsenal:

Zack Greinke hasn’t faced the Angels since 2015 when he allowed 5 runs over 14 innings in 2 starts. Several Angels players have a great history with him - including Kole Calhoun (though I’m not sure he is done with rehab yet). Greinke has had a pretty solid year with a few up and down spots and has allowed 8 runs over his last 10.1 innings in 2 starts.

Pitch Arsenal:

Verdict: It’s a tough one. Barria needs to keep those bats quiet and the Angels need to hope that Grienke’s recent struggled continue in Anaheim (where he has a career 2.93 ERA)

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GAME 2

TBD v. Matt Koch
Tuesday, June 19th @7:07PM

Summary:

The Angels haven’t announced a pitcher yet for Tuesday, a start that has been made unclear due to all the recent DL stints. It’s likely they may call up someone from Salt Lake, but who? Osmer Morales is due to pitch in Salt Lake Tuesday so that may be a possibility. The 25 year old has a 5.23 ERA over 13 games this year. 20 year old Jose Suarez pitched Monday but unless the Angels want to bump his start back a day AND they think he ready for a big league shot, I don’t see that happening. Considering the Angels don’t really have a long reliever, a bullpen game isn’t really an option either. Osmer Morales seems like the most likely candidate.

Matt Koch has just 84 big league innings under his belt with 66 of them in 2018. He’s had some rough starts but almost moments of promise, like a 1 run games against the Astros last month and a 3 hit scoreless 7 inning outing against the Marlins earlier in June.

Pitch Arsenal:

Verdict: It’s hard to say much about this one given that we don’t know who will start for the Angels. If it’s Morales, we’ll see some good runs scored on both sides of this one perhaps.

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Overall Verdict: I’m not very confident in a series win here, or even a split really. The Diamondbacks are a formidable foe and not one the Angels will be knocking around. But hey - never tell me the odds, right?

Current Standings