D-Backs post HR records in victory
PHILADELPHIA – It happened on the first pitch of the game, which Jarrod Dyson blasted out to right, and again on the seventh and the 13th, pitches that also were driven out of Citizens Bank Park. As it happened, that was just the beginning.
In a year in which balls have never
left major league ballparks at a more frequent pace, the Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies established a record on Monday night, combining for 13 home runs, the most in a game in baseball history.
“You can’t really explain it,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said after his team’s 13-8 victory. “It’s a bunch of really good hitters getting after it and not letting off the gas pedal.”
The Diamondbacks connected for a club-record eight. Jarrod Dyson, Ketel Marte and David Peralta started the game with three consecutive home runs; Eduardo Escobar and Ildemaro Vargas hit two apiece; and Alex Avila also went deep.
Overshadowed by the home runs is the fact that the Diamondbacks, who destroyed the Toronto Blue Jays in a three-game sweep over the weekend, continued to roll along, this time pounding a first-place team in the Phillies. It was the Diamondbacks’ fifth consecutive victory. They are 35-32.
In a way, the home-run barrage should come as no surprise. Long balls are up across the majors this season. Baseball set a record for homers in a month during May, when there were 1,120 hit across the majors. And the sport is on pace to obliterate its singleseason record for homers.
It has led to more than a small amount of speculation about the composition of the baseballs themselves. Many pitchers have openly said they are convinced the ball is harder, slicker, bouncier than ever.
It has led some onlookers to wonder about what it is doing to the quality of the game itself. Do not count Lovullo among them. Nor does he believe the increase in homers detracts from the enjoyment of watching them.
“I like home runs,” Lovullo said. “No matter what the situation is, what’s being said about the baseballs or the size of the ballparks, a home run is a home run.”
“I don’t make the balls,” Dyson said. “I don’t invest in the balls. I just try to do my best to square them up. That’s our job as a whole, to square them up.”
Dyson believes the pitchers are probably better informed to answer questions about how the balls feel; they’re the ones, he noted, who have the ball in their hands the entire game. But he believes another big reason for the power surge is the hitters themselves.
“Guys changing their launch angle has a lot to do with it,” Dyson said. “More guys trying to get underneath baseballs nowadays. There ain’t too much slug on the ground. Gotta get it in the air.”
The Diamondbacks hit five home runs off Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff, two off lefty Ranger Suarez, the other off lefty Austin Davis.
Escobar homered from the left side in the fourth inning and from the right side in the fifth, the first player in club history to homer from each side in consecutive innings.
“I have almost eight years in the big leagues and this was my first time playing here in Philadelphia,” Escobar said. “It was my debut today here. It was a great debut. It’s a good park for hitting. I think if you (make) good contact, you have a chance.”
The Diamondbacks served up five home runs of their own. Starter Taylor Clarke, who lasted just 3 1/3 innings, gave up two. Closer Greg Holland, who worked the ninth with a seven-run lead, allowed two. And reliever Matt Andriese allowed the other.
The Diamondbacks had hit six homers in a game six times in club history, most recently June 1, 2018, vs. the Marlins. They had started a game with three consecutive homers one other time, when they did so in 2017 against the Nationals’ Max Scherzer.
The Diamondbacks became the first team in history to hit eight home runs in a game in the same season in which they served up eight in a game. The Dodgers connected for eight homers off them at Dodger Stadium on Opening Day.
“It’s way better,” Lovullo said. “I know what it looks like from the other side. It’s not fun.”
RH