Opening Day: Diamondbacks Fall to Giants, 5-4

So close. The Diamondbacks lost 5-4 to the San Francisco Giants on Opening Day after mounting a comeback in the eighth inning, but falling just short.

Madison Bumgarner did what he generally does. Angel Pagan and Brandon Crawford each drove in a pair, and the defending champion Giants quelled a late Diamondbacks rally and beat the Snakes by a score of 5-4.

Josh Collmenter struggled through his first Opening Day start, giving up 5 earned runs in less than five innings. He also allowed 10 hits, walking one and striking out four. Arizona fell to 10-8 in the history of the franchise on Opening Day. The top three in the Giants order had eight hits against Collmenter.

Losing to Bumgarner isn’t anything to fret about, that’s going to happen to a lot of teams this season. He was great tonight, going seven strong innings and only allowed one earned run.

However, aside from the pitching, the most concerning thing about the game was what happened in the top of the fifth. After Nori Aoki and Joe Panik singled to begin the inning, Angel Pagan doubled to drive in Aoki. Collmenter was able to get Buster Posey and Brandon Belt out, and then proceeded to walk Casey McGehee.

Chip Hale then turned to Andrew Chafin to clean up the mess, who allowed Crawford to double to right. Unfortunately for the fans in attendance, Mark Trumbo was playing right, so the ball was misplayed for an error and McGehee was able to score from first. That fifth run would turn out to be the deciding factor.

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This is to be expected with Trumbo. He smoked a ball to the wall that turned into a triple, but he also committed an error. That’s pretty much what I’m going to expect from the guy until he shows any sort of defensive prowess.

The Diamondbacks didn’t go down without a fight. Ender Inciarte singled off of Javier Lopez to lead off the bottom of the eighth. Bruce Bochy brought in Jean Machi to face Paul Goldschmidt, who took a walk.

After Trumbo flew out, Aaron Hill singled to load the bases. Bochy turned to Romo, who allowed pinch hitter Jake Lamb to send one off the wall, clearing the bases. However, that’s where the rally ended, as Romo and Jeremy Affeldt finished the inning and let Santiago Casilla close the door in the ninth.

The fantastic thing about baseball is that the next game is usually only a day away, and tomorrow the Diamondbacks will send Rubby De La Rosa to the hill for his first start in Sedona Red. The Giants will counter with Ryan Vogelsong after Jake Peavy was scratched due to back problems.

I’ll leave you with some good news: baseball is back. One down, 161 to go.

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