Greinke, Diamondbacks blank the Braves to clinch series victory.
Greinke, Arizona blank Atlanta for 2nd win in row
ATLANTA – The Diamondbacks limped into SunTrust Park on Friday, losers of nine of their past 14. But just as alarming as the losses themselves was against whom the losses were coming: quality competition.
For most of the past 2 1/2 months, the Diamondbacks have beat up on the bad teams. For that, they deserve credit. But during that stretch, they consistently fell short against the good ones – the ones they’re eventually going to have to beat, whether it’s in October or before that. Prior to this weekend, the Diamondbacks had won just one series against a winning club since the middle of May.
And so, after blanking the Atlanta Braves 3-0 on Saturday afternoon, their second win in as many days against a surprise playoff contender, the Diamondbacks gave themselves some things to feel good about heading into the All-Star break, regardless of whether they can finish the series sweep on Sunday.
They have, at least for the time being, stopped a losing stretch that was becoming concerning. They now have a winning record when playing over .500 teams. And they’ve done it without really firing on all cylinders, a development reliever Archie Bradley sees as encouraging.
“It sounds weird to say with our record and how well we’ve played, but I still feel like, except for a little time in June and in that first month, that we’re still not clicking,” Bradley said.
“We still haven’t put together a full, solid month where we’re hitting, pitching and playing defense all together. If we can sneak by and find a way until we put it all together, it’s going to be pretty good.”
Zack Greinke took a shutout into the eighth inning in what might have been his best start of the year, crediting his fastball command for enhancing the quality of the rest of his pitches. Bradley recorded the biggest out of the night to end the eighth, striking out Braves slugger Ozzie Albies, who was at the plate as the tying run.
And the Diamondbacks scratched across just enough offense for the second consecutive day.
Early on, the Diamondbacks had no trouble winning series against good clubs.
When they opened the season with nine consecutive series victories, six of those came against clubs that are currently over .500.
But from May 8 through Thursday, they had played nine other series against winning teams. They had won just one.
Some of their issues could have been nothing more than bad timing; three of those series losses came during a brutal mid-to-late May stretch in which they didn’t look like they could have beaten a college team, let alone the best the majors have to offer.
And while the Braves haven’t been playing well of late – Saturday’s loss was their eighth in their past 10 – they would have been a playoff team had the postseason started before this series began.
“You’ve been hearing about these young Braves the whole year,” Bradley said. “You’ve seen the way they’ve played. You’ve seen Albies, (Ronald) Acuna (Jr.). (Freddie) Freeman is obviously a stud. You’ve just seen, from where they were last year to right now, they’re potentially going to be a playoff team.
“Anytime you play a team like that, it’s nice, especially when we haven’t been playing the best baseball, to step up and win the first two.”