San Francisco Giants vs. Arizona Diamondbacks Pick & Prediction SEPTEMBER 20th 2023
The Arizona Diamondbacks are ascending at a good time, and they possess the National League's second wild-card spot with 10 games remaining.
The San Francisco Giants are descending and have lost 10 of their past 11 road games and sit three games behind the Chicago Cubs for the third wild-card berth with 11 contests left.
Jacob Hoffman
The two teams face off Wednesday afternoon in Phoenix in a pivotal matchup to close a two-game set.
Arizona (80-72) notched an 8-4 victory on Tuesday to remain a half-game ahead of the Cubs (79-72). The Diamondbacks also tied the season series with San Francisco at 6-6, meaning Wednesday's winner will hold the tiebreaker edge.
The Diamondbacks are thriving with four straight wins and nine in their past 13 contests.
Arizona had 13 hits in the opener after spotting the Giants a 2-0 first-inning lead.
"We made a ton of statements in the four-run second (inning) with good hitting and timely, aggressive baserunning, and that was a big difference in the game," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said.
Arizona's Ketel Marte drove in two runs and reached base five times on four hits and a walk. Marte is 6-for-8 with a homer, four RBIs, three runs and two walks over the past two games.
Marte and Corbin Carroll (who also had two RBIs) worked a double steal in the second inning in which Giants third baseman Wilmer Flores committed two errors -- one on the catch, one on a throw -- to allow both Carroll and Marte to score.
"Once that ball got away and Ketel scored, too, I was fired up," Carroll said. "That felt good."
The steal was Carroll's 48th of the season. Only two Diamondbacks have ever reached 50 -- Tony Womack (72 in 1999) and Eric Byrnes (50 in 2007).
San Francisco (76-75) has dropped four of its past five games overall and is just 15-26 since taking three of four against the Diamondbacks from July 31-Aug. 3. The Giants were 12 games over .500 at the time.
"We've just got to worry about trying to win (Wednesday) and then go from there," Flores said. "But we put ourselves in this situation, so we're going to keep going."
Logan Webb (10-12, 3.31 ERA) will be on the mound for the Giants on Wednesday against fellow right-hander Merrill Kelly (11-7, 3.45).
Webb is 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA in three starts against Arizona this season. Kelly gave up seven runs (five earned) and 10 hits in five-plus innings on June 24 while losing his lone 2023 outing against the Giants.
Webb has been inconsistent over the past two months, going 2-5 with a 3.71 ERA over 11 starts. He has allowed one run or none four times during the span while allowing four or more three times.
In his latest outing, Webb gave up one run and four hits over eight innings in a no-decision against the Colorado Rockies on Friday in Denver.
Webb, 26, is 5-2 with a 2.62 ERA in nine career starts against the Diamondbacks. Marte has homered off Webb but is just 3-for-17 in their matchups. Carroll is 1-for-8 and Alek Thomas is 1-for-13 vs. Webb.
Kelly, 34, was rocked for seven runs in two of his past five starts. He gave up one run in two of the outings and pitched seven innings of one-hit shutout ball in the other.
He is 1-2 with a 4.85 ERA during that stretch, twice striking out a career-high-tying 12 batters.
Kelly is 6-5 with a 3.48 ERA in 17 career starts against San Francisco. Mike Yastrzemski (8-for-36) has three homers vs. Kelly.
--Field Level Media
San Francisco Giants vs. Arizona Diamondbacks Recap SEP 20TH 2023
Ketel Marte had four hits and two RBIs and Corbin Carroll also drove in two runs to help the Arizona Diamondbacks notch an 8-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night at Phoenix.
Marte also walked to reach base five times while Carroll had two hits and two runs to help Arizona win for the ninth time in its past 13 games. Tommy Pham and Geraldo Perdomo also had two hits apiece for the Diamondbacks.
Arizona (80-72) remained in second place in the National League wild-card race by a half-game over the third-place Chicago Cubs. San Francisco (76-75) fell to three games behind the Cubs and also trails the Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds in the battle.
Joc Pederson homered for the Giants, who have lost four of their past five games. San Francisco also has dropped 10 of its past 11 road games.
Zac Gallen (16-8) gave up four runs and six hits over five innings for the Diamondbacks. He struck out six and walked three.
San Francisco's Alex Cobb (7-7) exited in the third inning after aggravating a hip injury. He gave up five runs, five hits, one walk and struck out one in two innings.
Alex Wood replaced Cobb and gave up three runs and seven hits over five innings. He struck out two and walked one.
Lamonte Wade Jr. led off the game with a triple for the Giants and scored on a sacrifice fly by Mike Yastrzemski. One out later, Pederson hit a 425-foot blast to dead center, his 14th homer of the season.
Arizona pushed across four runs in the second to take a 5-2 lead.
Carroll hit a two-out, two-run double to give the Diamondbacks a 3-2 lead. Marte followed with a walk and then they worked a double steal that netted Arizona two more runs due to two errors by Giants third baseman Wilmer Flores.
Patrick Bailey's throw to third was on target but got away from Flores. Carroll sped toward home and scored easily as Flores made a wild throw. Marte kept running and also scored.
Marte added a two-run single with the bases loaded in the fourth to make it 7-2.
San Francisco scored twice in the fifth on Wade's sacrifice fly and a bases-loaded walk to Flores.
Gabriel Moreno's sacrifice fly in the fifth made it 8-4.
--Field Level Media