Mother’s Day Delight for Arizona Diamondbacks

Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

On a day meant to celebrate mothers, the Arizona Diamondbacks celebrated a series victory with a 5-1 win over the Chicago White Sox.
Although their jerseys were inferior to the throwback pullovers of White Sox past, the Diamondbacks overcame that difficult barrier.
Starting the game, and pitching magnificently, was a D-backs minor leaguer who has been dominating the lower throngs for the first few weeks of the season. Of course, this is not Archie Bradley, but rather Chase Anderson.
Clearly, someone forgot to tell Anderson that this whole Major League thing is supposed to be difficult. Breezing through the White Sox order, Anderson never so much as pitched from the stretch, with his only hits allowed coming from a Jose Abreu single where Abreu was throwing out on his way to second and a home run off the bat of Moises Sierra in the bottom of the sixth.
Over the course of his 5.1 innings, Anderson only yielded the two hits and a walk while striking out six. Thanks to the help of his sturdy bullpen, Anderson was the second Diamondback to pick up his first Major League win this week.
If any team in baseball is deserving of a few breaks in their direction, it would be the abysmal D-backs. When the game began with a lazy flyball to centerfield, many fans were probably not even settled into their seats at home. As Alejandro De Aza stumbled to the grass below and had the ball fall in for a leadoff triple, maybe, just maybe, the tide was turning in Arizona’s favor.
The recipient of the gift triple to open the contest was Diamondbacks leadoff hitter Gerardo Parra. While that hit was given to him kindly, he absolutely took his hit in the fifth that went soaring into the bullpen beyond the right field fence, putting Arizona ahead 3-0.
Joining Parra in the slugging parade was left-handed teammate, Miguel Montero. Failing to make an out all afternoon, Montero’s day went as follows: single, walk, intentional walk, hit by pitch, two-run home run. His final at-bat was also a blast that entered the bullpen, all but sealing the deal on a D-backs win.
On multiple occasions in 2014, the starting pitching has been rock solid, just to turn the game over to the bullpen, where it promptly explodes like C-4. Sunday afternoon was not one of those days.
The newest reliever of the group, Evan Marshall, ran through the toughest part of the White Sox lineup without batting an eyelash. Striking out Abreu and Adam Dunn, before getting Dayan Viciedo on a tapper to the mound, Marshall is proving himself a legitimate stopper at the backend of the D-backs ‘pen.
Before the additional runs were tacked on, Brad Ziegler pitched a shutout eighth inning as well. With no day off as the club travels back home, saving Addison Reed for a potential save situation tomorrow worked out for the best.
Were the Diamondbacks just not 3-13 at home, their record would be a bit more salvageable. There has absolutely been better baseball being played on this past road trip, and the time away from the incessant pressures of the home park have done the club some good. The only trouble is the Washington Nationals come strolling into town next–no easy foe.
On Monday night, the two get underway at 6:40 p.m. as Josh Collmenter gets the ball for the D-backs. Washington sends out pre-season Cy Young contender Jordan Zimmermann to counter, as Arizona looks to translate some of their recent play back onto the turf occupying Chase Field.